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We had some time to kill before we met up with the trolley so we wandered around the town square.
While walking through the park I spied this huge wood carving and reading the plaque tells us who he is:
Jose De Rivera St. Jurgo
The Plaque tells us that this was carved into a 200 year old Oak tree by Matt Missey in 2018.
Joseph (Jose) DeRivera St. Jurgo Memorial Plaque
From the Putinbayohio.com/history website I learned that he was a weathy Spaniard who bought Put-in-Bay, and Middle Bass Island in 1854.https://putinbayohio.com/history/
He brought in sheep, built a sawmill, and surveyed the island into 10 acre plots. In 1860 he established grape crops for wine making. Rhine-landers from Germany came and brought Catawaba, Concord, Niagra, and Reisling grapevines to the Lake Erie Islands, contributing to the wine that is present on the Lake Erie Islands today. Within 10 years of the wine outbreak land prices rose from $10 to $1500 per acre.
Vineyard Put-in-Bay w/100 year old Cedar Posts.
We learned about the winery, and those 100 year old Cedar posts holding up the vines from our trolley driver.
At the age of 76 in May of 1889 de Rivera passed away. He’s buried in the cemetery with his wife on the land he donated to the trust.
There’s a lot more history about him at this link.
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While in Ohio earlier this month we also wanted to see more of the area we based ourselves in so, one afternoon after a morning of birding then lunch we drove back to our hotel grabbed some stuff then headed to catch the ferry to Put-in-Bay, an island on the shallow western end of Lake Erie.
We decided to be walk-on Ferry passengers. Here’s where we we’ll wait for the ferry to come in. See the ferry making its way to the dock on the right back there? There’s a blue door!
Miller Boat Line Ferry pedestrian waiting area
Does that big ole portal the cars, trucks, and passengers enter and exit the ferry count as a door?
Here’s our ride
It was smooth sailing over to the island. We’re almost there! I see lots of doors as we approach the island.
Lime Kiln Dock, Put-in-Bay
The view of the dockyard from the upper deck of the ferry. There are several open doors.
Put-in-Bay dockyard
Welcome to the island!
Some fun facts about Put-in-Bay:
The island dates back to the War of 1812 when Put-in-Bay became an important operations headquarters for Oliver Hazard Perry. The island was the launching point from which Perry set sail to defeat the British fleet commanded by Robert H. Barclay in the war of 1812. The historic battle of Lake Erie and the American victory gave the United States Navy and our country the often quoted slogan, ” We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” For more information about the island and its history visit this website. ~https://www.visitputinbay.org/history/
Today there’s a 352 foot granite column on the battleground site. The Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial. There’s a lookout at the top, which we were told has exceptional views on clear days like it was that day, but it was closed the day we were there. Two pics because I can’t decide which to share. I hope you like them both.
Perry’s Victory MonumentPerry’s Victory Monument and park
In fact most things on the island were closed. Their season starts Memorial week-end so, we were 12 days early . The preferred method of transportation while on the island is by golf cart or foot. We took the bus into town and had a great bus driver who shared lots of great information about the island with us. Then he hooked us up with the trolley driver who was giving out free tours of the island that day. He was nailing down his talk-points of interest about the island and practicing on us. He was great! I took a few snaps of the bus and the trolley but I can’t find them. Sigh.
This is getting rather long so, I’ll wrap it up. I have more doors and history from the island to share with you next week.
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For Mother’s Day and my birthday He-Man and I went to Ohio for several days of birding the Spring migration of Eastern birds. It was fantastic. I added 27 new birds to my life list most of which were Warblers.
Circadianreflections Blog 
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