Visiting most nudist clubs typically requires traveling long distances down secondary highways and sometimes even unpaved roads. A few venues, however, are within easy access along major highways and thus can actually function as a nude rest stop when you’re on a road trip. This article is the first installment in a new series designed to highlight such “on the way” clubs.

Many thousands of snowbirds travel each year along interstate 75 which stretches from Michigan right into Florida. Right around Cincinnati, Ohio, you’ll find Paradise Gardens (not to be confused with Paradise clubs of Georgia and Florida), a rustic club nestled in the hills just off exit 31 along I-275 West. It’s conveniently located, especially if you’re looking to avoid the heavy traffic on I-75 through Cincinnati.
This writer briefly visited Paradise Gardens on a warm April day on my way to Kentucky. My host was Dave Gaston, who has managed the club for about a year along with his wife Denise. The site is open year-round and consists mainly of a large club house which has a couple of rental apartments on the second floor, a bar and disco on the main floor, as well as a small interior hot tub. A fairly big sunning area adjacent to the club house is where you’ll find most people on a nice day. The club also boasts a very large glass-enclosed pool, which is perfect for winter but gets a bit too hot in the thick of summer, as Gaston pointed-out.
Paradise Gardens certainly isn’t a luxury naturist resort, but it does boast several wooded acres with trails for nature lovers. Do be careful, however, as one patron was once knocked-over by a leaping deer, according to Gaston!
Note that Paradise Gardens is a clothes-free, not a clothing-optional, club, which makes it the exception among nudist clubs in the USA.

• Paradise Gardens’ web site