South Bass Island (Part 3)

After visiting the lighthouse and the state park area of the island we then proceeded to what is quickly becoming a family tradition, Heineman's Winery. This winery began operation in 1888 when Gustav Heineman moved to the island from Baden, Germany. Heineman's was one of seventeen wineries on the island back in 1888 due to ideal soil conditions and a long growing season. This is credited to the effect the lake has on the surrounding areas.

Although there were 17 wineries on the island back in 1888, only Heineman's survived through prohibition by offering unfermented grape juice, taxi rides into town, and cave tours. Heineman's is now in their 5th generation of family ownership. You can find out more on their website here.

The Wine Garden.

Marblehead Mystery Unsolved...Again

I recently received a comment on a post I made back here about the old (supposed) railway bridge we found by the Marblehead Lighthouse. The comment led me to a very interesting read about the Lakeside and Marblehead Railroad. On page 41 of this PDF the author placed a map that shows the newly built Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Interurban route. Well if you take a look on that page you will notice that the route runs west of Main Street, which is in the same location it is today. The path that we found in the woods is directly to the east of the road. This was hard to tell on the original map I had located due to it being zoomed out so far.

Avon Lake Interurban Mystery Solved!

A few weeks ago I took a trip to Avon Lake to scope out an old, apparently abandoned Lake Shore Electric interurban car. You can check that post out here. Anyway, I got in touch with the foremost expert on the LSE Drew Penfield, and he seemed to know all about it. In fact it was right under my nose this whole time. Below is the email he wrote me back when I inquired about the car.

Hello Michael,

Thank you for the email. It is always good to hear from others who are interested in local history.


I am actually very familiar with the car in Avon Lake and have met the man who owns it. It was Lake Shore Electric 38, a freight car built by the railway in Sandusky. It spent many decades being used as a storage shed in Vermilion, but now it is slowly being restored.

He went on to tell me that he has more information about this exact car on the "Cleveland Freight Terminal" page of his LSE dedicated website which you can see here.

South Bass Island (Part 2)

We last left off finally having found a golf cart to fit our needs (albeit slightly larger than required). We then proceeded to the more residential side of the island first, ending up at the north tip.

Teresa and Sarah meditating or something.

Bocce: Nine Balls and a Lawn

There is a game that has been played in our family since as long as I can remember. It is a game that my mother plated with her parents. In fact it has been played for thousands of years. The game is known as Bocce, but is more commonly referred to as Lawn Bowling. The game dates back to Ancient Rome and was brought into the United States in the early 1900's when there was a mass influx of Italian immigrants. Now it is played around the world by every culture.

South Bass Island (Part 1)

It seems that every year we make it out to South Bass Island and Put-In-Bay with the family. Yesterday that time came again and I think it is safe to say that we all had a blast.

Put-In-Bay is the name of the village that sits in the middle of the island. It originally only referred to the bay in which ships would "put in" to wait out bad weather. The "Bass" islands located in Lake Erie are part of Ottawa County and are an extremely popular summer spot in Ohio, mainly with the younger crowd due to the abundance of bars (including the longest in the world) located downtown.

Put-In-Bay and South Bass Island have a pretty substantial history as well. It was the place of a pivotal battle between the Americans and the British during the War of 1812. The first ship to shore transmission was sent from the annual Yacht races to the island in 1907. It is still home to the Ohio State Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island was opened up in 1900 and still is in service today. The island was also home to one of the largest hotels in America, the Hotel Victory. The hotel burned down in 1919, but some of the ruins remain.

To say that South Bass Island has an interesting history would be putting it lightly, but what does it look like today? Come with us on our mini vacation and find out...

Teresa and Sarah ready to go.

The Downfall of West Erie Avenue

West Erie Avenue is the portion of Route 6 that runs from the Black River in Lorain all the way to the edge of Vermilion. Once a booming route into "Vacationland", the days of lakeside motels, drive-in movie theaters, skating rinks and family dining are fading. In a recent move, the city condemned the four remaining motels located on Route 6, west of the city. This was voted on due to health and safety concerns by the city and will be demolished very shortly, wiping a major part of Lorain history off the map for good.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand this move will make the area around the motels a safer place. These motels have served as drug dens and permanent homes for a number of years, bringing in all sorts of violence, drugs, and other crime. Gone are the days when families stayed at these motels on their way to Cedar Point, possibly catching a movie at the drive-in before bed.

Camping in Hocking Hills (Part 3)

After we had lunch back at the campsite we left once more, this time heading to a man made feature of the area. A couple of shops that were set up in an area completely surrounded by woods and fields.

Minnie was ready to go.

Camping in Hocking Hills (Part 2)

Picking up where we left off at Old Man's Cave. Once we made it to the bottom of the ravine we took the bridge across the creek to the other side.

Camping in Hocking Hills (Part 1)

About 3 hours south of our home, in Hocking County is some of the most naturally beautiful areas in all of the state. Hocking Hills was carved out by seas that predate human existence. There are caves, lakes, waterfalls, hills, massive trees, and trails that run through all of them. For Sarah's uncle's birthday the whole family went camping in Hocking Hills. Needless to say I got a substantial amount of pictures. Here is part one of our trip.

Friday

We left after Sarah got home from work on Friday around 7:00 pm or so. Our eta placed us at the campground at approximately 10:00 pm.

Speed limit was 70 before you freak out (five over is the acceptable limit).

LSE Freight Car in Avon Lake

I've decided to drop the brackets from the front of my post titles. I think it makes the title too long and look unclean, plus they are pretty much worthless if I have a descriptive title. Anyway, a few days ago I was made aware of a large piece of history sitting behind a shopping center just down Route 6 from our house in Avon Lake. The shopping center happens to be one of historical importance and was also covered in a previous post you can view here.

The shopping center I am referring to is the one that used to be the old Beach Park LSE Station.

[EXPLORE] Adventures in Babysitting (Part 2)

We left off boarding the ferry to Kelley's Island with our dog Minnie and niece Alexandria in tow. This is the continuation of our little adventure.

It took us about 30 minutes to get from the mainland to the island. The Kelley's Island ferry wasn't exactly built for speed, but we didn't care. The view was incredible.

The Ferry

Passing the other ferry.

[EXPLORE] Adventures in Babysitting (Part 1)

On Saturday we borrowed our niece Alexandria, My brother and sister-in-law were moving into their new home and decided it would be easier if we took her for a day of adventure and exploration. Here are the better photographs of our day.

Breakfast

Delicious!