Day Trip to a Lighthouse

But there are many places in the backyard that are worth visiting.

For many Ohioans, Marblehead Lighthouse State Park on historic Lake Erie is just a day trip away. The lighthouse itself, a 65-foot limestone cylinder, is climbable. Not all lighthouses can be a hands on experience. Marblehead Lighthouse is open to climbers in the summer months, usually between the hours of 1-4:45 pm.

In 1998, the lighthouse was taken over by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Its beacon, the oldest one operating on the Great Lakes, is still tended by the U.S. Coast Guard. Marblehead Lighthouse is actually a rescue story. Many of the 700 plus lighthouses in the United States have gone out of service. Some are in disrepair, some have crumbled under neglect. But some are being taken over by government and nonprofit organizations when the Coast Guard can no longer sustain their upkeep. Such is the case for Marblehead Lighthouse, as ODNR took the historic structure under its wing.

Now the Lake Erie light is the center of attention at Marblehead Lighthouse State Park on Marblehead Peninsula. Regular tours through it are given, and visitors may also soak up the local maritime history by touring the lightkeeper's house museum located next to the lighthouse. Fifteen lighthouse keepers have kept the Marblehead beacon operating throughout its beginning from 1822.

Marblehead Lighthouse's first Keeper
Benajah Wolcott first tended the lighthouse, climbing its stairwell each night to light the wicks of whale oil lamps originally in place. The light of the lamps was reflected by sixteen inch diameter metal plates that sent the beacon's signal far out across Lake Erie to warn ships of the rocky shoreline. A kerosene lantern replaced the whale oil lamps in 1858. Rotating the lantern created a flash of light every ten seconds. The keeper was required to crank the lantern weight system every three hours in order to keep the flashes coming.

A Fresnel lens, a complicated system of refracted light, later replaced the metal plates. Finally, in 1923, the lantern system gave way to an electric light. The Fresnel lens and the electric light are capable of sending a flashing signal 11 nautical miles over the lake's waves and rocky shoals. Marblehead Lighthouse's beacon flashes a unique green light, now set to signal every six seconds.

Today, the Wolcott family stone house is another tourist delight of the area. It is the oldest existing house in Ottawa County. Nicknamed the "Old Stone Fort", the dwelling is open for public tours each second Saturday of the month, June through October. Its location on the Sandusky Bay side of Marblehead Peninsula wasn't convenient for a busy lighthouse keeper. The Wolcotts moved to the wooden frame house, which is now the lighthouse's accompanying museum, in 1880.

Kelleys Island, Johnson Island, Perry Memorial
The spacious park on the edge of the lake that surrounds the lighthouse and the museum offers casual viewing, picnicking, and walking activities, as well as a breathtaking vista of Lake Erie. The rocky bed upon which the lighthouse stands is an alluring place to linger as the lake's active, white cap waves crash into it. It's slippery, so visitors must walk cautiously.

If the lighthouse and its park grounds aren't enough to fill your day, other area attractions include Kelleys Island, a half hour ferry ride away, Johnson Island, farther along the peninsula, and the Perry Memorial, also a ferry ride away, at Put-in-Bay. The Glacial Grooves, etched by the glaciers that formed and filled all five of the Great Lakes, are on Kelleys Island. Civil War architecture and an island history museum may also be enjoyed there.

At Johnson Island, which is connected to the main peninsula by a narrowly built roadway, what remains of the famous Confederate officer's prison and burial grounds can be toured. There is a movement underway calling for exhumation and closure of this area. Up to this point, services were held each Sunday before Memorial Day for the soldiers who were imprisoned, died, and buried there. A reenactment battalion brought history alive, shedding light on the conditions in the inescapable, lakefront prison.

The Perry Memorial and Put-in-Bay region offers yearly Fourh of July activities that draw large crowds. The Memorial is facilitated by an elevator that zips tourists to the top for a spectacular view of the lake and its islands. The ferry to the memorial, which was constructed in honor of Commodore Perry's great naval battle victory, leaves from Port Clinton.

Daisies in May
An unusual nature preserve is located on Marblehead Peninsula at the Lafarge limestone quarry. The rare Lakeside Daisy, hymenoxys acaulis variant glabra, an Ohio and a federal endangered species, grows at the quarry and is open for public observation only in May. Two islands in Lake Huron and some spots of canadian wilderness are the only additional places in the world where the tiny, yellow daisy grows and blooms.

East Harbor State Park
A state facility for camping is close by when that day trip begins to seem like too little time to take in all of the peninsula area's finery. East Harbor State Park is located just inland from Lake Erie, on the peninsula's middle northern shore. It's trimmed by waterways on three sides and features a lakefront beach, fishing, and a picnicking area. From East Harbor to the Marblehead Peninsula, marinas, restaurants, lakeside activities, hiking, shopping opportunities, and fishing and boating abound.

Only a day trip away, Ohio's gem, Marblehead Peninsula, is a year round pleasure. And if that day trip to the lighthouse isn't enough, longer stays are easily accommodated.