GRAFTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — After a nearly eight-year hiatus, Tygart Lake State Park is once again offering tours of its dam.

You may remember that tours of the Tygart Dam used to be a regular occurrence; you may have even visited the dam yourself at some point in time. In 2015, tours of the dam were restricted due to terroristic threats from radical groups like ISIS, only allowing school groups and a number of individuals after a thorough background check.

The state park reopened its doors to the tour at the beginning of July this year and has had rapid success since then, immediately booking out dates in the entirety of July, August and the beginning of September.

12 News spoke with Tygart Dam resource manager, Stacy Lewis, on the significance of offering these tours back to the public.

“I think that it’s good for them to understand the mission that the USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] has, along with the state park and kind of why we’re here and why Tygart Lake is here, because of the dam,” Lewis said. “I think that it’s good for the community. We’ve heard from a lot of folks who said that they used to come here when they were in elementary school and you know, some haven’t been here for years, and so they’re wanting to get back out and take their kids and their grandchildren through the dam. I think that it’s just a big focal point of Grafton, and it’s’ a big part of our community, so it’s good that we’re able to get people back in there and take them on a tour.”

Tours are completely free and run about an hour and a half long starting at the top of the dam, then down and through it. Officials at Tygart Lake State Park encourage visitors to come in proper shoe attire as the tour involves a lot of walking and downward-direction steps. With a photo ID, twelve adults and eleven children are allowed on a tour at once.

“We hope to continue on Fridays, we don’t want to say every Friday, but we hope to continue on Fridays as we have staff availability. On our Facebook page, we will post when we have openings. We ask people to call in and speak with someone, not to leave a message, so we don’t miss anybody,” said Lewis.

If you visit Tygart Lake State Park and tours are not offered that day, it’s possible to be escorted out on the dam itself if staff permits it. The park also offers a number of water safety programs and interpretive programs like an interactive beehive inside the visitor center.

You can keep up with the Tygart Lake State Park through its Facebook page.