Road trip to Huron and Vermilion, Ohio
Vermillion Light house on the shores of Lake Erie, Ohio
.
Playing tourist for the day was our goal when we set out for the town of Vermilion, Ohio. Michael and I had heard that this was a good stopover spot for boaters on the south shores of Lake Erie. We were there in July of 2021. Some of the shops and restaurants were closed and some had limited schedules because of the pandemic. Not too much of a concern for us as we were interested in driving around the town and get a feel for the lay of the land, so to speak. I had done just a bit of research in advance of our trip. Wanting to see if this would be a good stop for us as we continued to practice manouevering our boat while we waited for Canada to open and we could proceed with our trip around America’s Great Loop. With google maps on our cell phone and our garmin navigator securely clipped onto it’s dash mount off we went to do some scouting of the town of Vermilion.
Now I should tell you that as we plotted our trip to Vermilion we thought this would be a good way to double dip. Since we would be traveling by the town of Huron we thought we could make arrangements and stop by for a tour of NorthCoast Prop Tech Incorporated, the propeller shop where we had our propellers worked on over the winter of 2020 in anticipation for the 2021 boating season. Looking at our route I reasoned we could stop somewhere for lunch along the way and geek out as we toured the shop where propellers are repaired and tuned. Yep, a geek’s paradise.
We got a hold of Ray, the owner of the prop shop and made arrangements for a tour after lunch. Off to Huron we went using google to check out restaurants in the town of Huron. It was a bit of a challenge to find a restaurant that was open with indoor seating. Ah, the fun of living with a pandemic. Luck was with us and we found a local sandwich shop not too far away from the prop shop. Score! We enjoyed our lunch and then off we went for our tour. Ray was great! He patiently answered our questions and took us through his shop explaining why North Coast was a great choice for having props worked on by his crew. Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed our time touring the shop and I for one learned a lot.
After spending about an hour at the shop it was time to go and scope out Vermilion. We traveled around in Vermilion looking for roads that would provide us access to the river and the shoreline of Lake Erie. Eventually we made our way to the river where we had heard fellow loopers liked to dock their boats for the night. We drove along route 6 until we crossed the Vermilion River and pulled into the parking area of a restaurant called Quaker Steak & Lube. I found the name amusing. The restaurant was closed but the good news was that we had easy access to the walk way that boarded the river and there were boats tied up to the dock and beckoned us to check out the river front. As we approached the walk way we noted a sign stated we were at McGarvey’s landing operated by the Vermilion Port Authority. Definitely we were in the right spot. We hardly walked 100 feet when I spied the AGLCA burgee on the bow of a boat. Stopping to admire the vessel we struck up a conversation with the owner who was in the process of doing an oil change. The owner, John Grill, was the proud owner of a Ranger Tug (I forget the length). He had named his boat the Barbeque. Michael and I had a good chuckle when the owner introduced himself and explained the correlation between his name and the name of his boat. We had a pleasant conversation and we left thinking that this would be a good place to bring our boat. Off we went to explore along the Lake Erie shore and look for any local landmarks.
We didn’t have too far to travel. Making a right turn onto Main Street and proceeding until the street dead ended at the shore of Lake Erie at Harbor View Park and the Main Street Beach swimming area and Home to the Vermilion Lighthouse.
The stroll up to the lighthouse was very pleasant. Lots of beautiful flowers providing a welcome bit of color and texture. A stark difference to the scraped earth that greeted me as I approached the lighthouse. I didn’t give the lack of landscaping much thought until I got home and started doing a little digging into the history of the lighthouse.
The stroll up to the lighthouse was very pleasant. Lots of beautiful flowers providing a welcome bit of color and texture. A stark difference to the scraped earth that greeted me as I approached the lighthouse. I didn’t give the lack of landscaping much thought until I got home and started doing a little digging into the history of the lighthouse.
For a good overview of the history of the lighthouse click on the pictures below and read the strange history of the Vermilion lighthouse.
Before the first lighthouse was constructed in 1847, the people of Vermilion had constructed their own navigational beacon. They made their aid to navigation simply from wood and an oil burning lamp. Over the years the lighthouse and pier had numerous repairs and upgrades due to the harsh weather conditions rotting the wood and damaging the structure. In 1877 the last rendition of the lighthouse was made of iron cast from obsolete canons from the civil war. The final straw came in 1929 when the lighthouse was leaning (probably due to a damaging ice storm the winter before) and the US Corps of Engineers deemed the light too unstable and ordered the lighthouse to be dismantled. In place of the lighthouse, an 18 foot tower was erected and an automated light was installed. It wasn’t until 1991 that ground was broken at the present site to put in place a replica of the lighthouse that was constructed in 1877. Shows you what motivated people can achieve.
As I was doing some research on the Vermilion Lighthouse, I noticed that in some of the older pictures there was a building that was very close to the lighthouse. Doing further digging I found out that there was a mansion, named Harbor View, that had been donated to Bowling Green State University in 1953 and then later sold to the Great Lakes Historical Society. The Society later housed it’s Inland Seas Maritime Museum in this old mansion. Then in 1992 the replica lighthouse was dedicated. In 2014 the Historical Society moved most of the exhibits to a larger facility in Toledo. To my surprise I discovered that the mansion was torn down in April of 2021, just before we visited the site in July. That explains the scrapped exposed earth!
I was beginning to get a sense that the coast guard had a goal to decommission the lighthouses that dot our shores, not just the inland lakes but the coastal shores as well. It made me a bit sad to come to this realization because I have always loved our lighthouses that guide our mariners through storms and darkness, providing safe passages to the vessels on our waterways. There is something graceful about a lighthouse that is lost when a beacon is hoisted onto a metal base. It strikes me that the beacons are more utilitarian than works of art. I am glad that the people of Vermilion wanted to have a lighthouse shining hope and comfort across the dark waters of Lake Erie bringing their mariners safely back to port. I am so glad we were able to visit this sentinel on the southern shores of Lake Erie. Thanks to the people who made this trip into history possible.