Lake Erie Crushers

The Lake Erie Crushers started playing in 2008 in the city of Avon. They play in what is known as the "Frontier Division". Tonight my mom scored some free tickets so Sarah, Mom and I decided to attend. It was a good night for it considering it was "Wiener Wednesday", which translates to $1 hot dogs.

Mom, Sarah and I.

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.