Let's Go Places: Put in Bay

Hey friends, it's time for Island #3 of 4 on The Great Island Bender of 2023.  For context, we're in Ohio about 40 miles east of Toledo.

I mentioned last time that Put in Bay is also called South Bass Island.  The technicalities are that Put in Bay is a village and South Bass is the island where Put in Bay is located.  The village takes up so much of the island that the most common name for this place is Put in Bay, so you're not wrong to call it that.  The year round population is 150, and this is the island with all of the city services.  Fun fact, if you're a kid on North or Middle Bass, you don't catch the bus, you catch the PLANE to go to school on South Bass.  The main road of the island is about three and a half miles long, so we're on slightly bigger turf than Middle Bass.

The next thing to talk about is that if you say "Put in Bay" the odds are very high that someone will say "the party island" but not in a fun way.  If I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say "party island" with either a great deal of concern or in an outright nasty tone...hey I could stop at one of the Put in Bay bars and get a drink!

I don't want to discourage anyone - I'm sure that if you're looking for things to do that fall under the nasty "party island" label you can find them on Put in Bay - but I have an issue with the 'tude.  Let me show you the other side of the story.

Photo continuity note: my photos are from July 2022, September 2022, April 2023, and June 2023 so that's why there is a mix of gray skies (September), no leaves on the trees (April), and full on sunny summer (either July 2022 or June 2023).

So far when we've talked about getting to these islands, I've just said "the ferry".  For your first visit to Put in Bay, I'd like you to be a little more particular.  As of July 2023 when I'm writing this, I'd like you to take a ferry that comes into the west dock instead of the south dock.  That means either the Jet Express or the Goodtime Island Hopping Cruise.  Once you've made your first visit, Miller Ferry at the south dock will do just fine.

The reason for going to the west dock for your first visit is the eye candy that awaits.  If you go to the south dock, you won't get the full view of the lighthouse:

You won't see the Benson Ford (backstory it's an old Ford Motor Co freight ship that is living a new life as someone's house.  It's open for tours a few times a year so keep an eye out).

And you won't see a thousand other gorgeous surprises along the western side of the island.

When you come in on the west side, you'll pull into the heart of Put in Bay.

Once you step off the boat you will be swarmed by a thousand golf carts, which is the primary mode of transportation here.  Yes there are cars as well and even a gas station, but the golf cart is where it's at.  Or the bike in my case.

Toto, I have a feeling that we're not on Pelee or Middle Bass anymore.  Those thousand golf carts are full of people.

The first thing that you've noticed from miles away is Perry's Monument, so let's make that the first stop on our trip.

By the way, I am a bit of a wiseacre, so anytime there is a tall impressive building there is almost always a picture like this on my phone.

Perry's Monument

Let me ask you, when was the last time that you thought about the War of 1812?  If you're like me, the answer is not since grade school.  But if you go to Put in Bay, you're going to be thinking of it a lot, because one of the major naval battles happened here.  You can't take one step without seeing the name Perry, a business or a street named The Victory Something, or a "don't give up the ship" flag.  If you've ever heard the saying "we have met the enemy and he is ours", you are where it happened.  That's what Perry said in his post-battle letter to his bosses.

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial is a tribute to the victory and a celebration of the world's longest undefended border between Canada and the US.  For scale it's taller than the Statue of Liberty and shorter than the Washington Monument.  It's by far the tallest building on Lake Erie so you can't miss it.

In the summer it's very crowded but if you go there on a Sunday morning in September like I did, you might just be the only visitor.

The elevator does most of the work to get you up to the top.

Once you're there, you can see the whole island plus all of the other Erie Islands.

You can get up close and personal with Perry's lions.

Hi lion!

The views back down on the ground are spectacular in their own right.

Scheeff East Point Nature Preserve

My next suggestion is to head north.  There you will pass the Put in Bay city limits.

And you can take the short hike at Scheeff East Point Nature Preserve, and if you go there in April before the leaves are on the trees, you might get an eyeful of these guys.

Massie Cliffside Preserve

After we're done with Scheeff, let's turn around and go back the way we came.  Our next stop is Massie Cliffside Preserve.

A short hike gets you here.

You can take a peek at Middle Bass.

And then turn around and soak in the gorgeousness behind you.

 

Other Stuff to do on Put in Bay

Let's head back toward downtown.  It's pretty crowded there so we won't stay long.  We'll just take in all of the Canadian flags at DeRiveria Park

As we're heading out of downtown we'll make a stop at the museum (bad blogger no pictures).  That's where you get to learn fun facts such as that the Put in Bay High School Class of 2023 had six graduates. You get an eye full of memorabilia from The Victory Hotel (a luxury hotel of the late 19th century that suffered the same fate as the Big Grandiose Hotel on Middle Bass - island fires of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were no joke).  You learn that one of the reasons why The Victory Hotel had business problems is that it was priced outside of the reach of the average Joe - and you may recall that one of the reasons why I have not yet spent the night on one of the US islands is the cost of summertime lodging. 

After the museum we'll head south on the main road and we'll start hearing music, which takes a minute to register.  Who's playing that lively polka?

Ah das Biergarten!

The Biergarten is affiliated with the Goat Soup & Whiskey, which might be an odd name for a restaurant but the food is delicious.  The first time that we went, there was a wait to get into the restaurant so we happily passed the time in the biergarten until a table was ready.  The biergarten has food as well.

The goat can get a bit rowdy.  Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

After the biergarten, it's just a short walk to Heineman's Winery and the Crystal Cave.  You can do a dual tour of the winery and the cave that was discovered underneath it.

They don't call it the Crystal Cave for nothing.

I threw some shade on an unnamed Lake Erie winery in the Pelee Island post.  I'm not saying whether this is or isn't the place, but the Heineman's tour includes either a glass of wine or grape juice.  I recommend the grape juice, or better yet skip it and go back to the biergarten. I can wholeheartedly recommend the tour.

If you continue down the road for a little bit, you'll get to a place called Joe's Bar, and I also endorse a stop there.

Put in Bay: What I've Done and Have Yet to Do

Trip #1: July 2022.  The hubs and I went here as part of the Goodtime Island Hopping Cruise.  We had enough time to walk around and have a nice lunch at the Goat Soup.

Trip #2: August 2022.  We toured the Benson Ford ship house and ate at Joe's Bar.

Trip #3: September 2022.  I came here by my lonesome on a Sunday morning and was the only visitor at Perry's Monument, toured the winery and cave, and had lunch at the biergarten.

Trip #4: April 2023.  I took advantage of a gorgeous day to bring the bike out.  I peddled most of the island and hit up Scheeff and Massie and got a camera full of gorgeous pix.  It was off season and nearly every business on the island was still closed AND I spent an action packed three hours taking in the sights and would have spent longer if I'd had more time.

Trip #5: June 2023.  I came at noon on a Saturday and it was packed.  I visited the museum and went to most of the other nature preserves on the island, which took a good bit of time.  There was nothing as impressive as Scheeff and Massie.  If I had it to do all over again, it would have made more sense to come to Put in Bay first ahead of the crowds and then go to Middle Bass instead of the other way around, but hindsight is 20/20 isn't it?

Trip #next: moar biking, ride the island trolley, go to Perry's Cave, visit the other nature preserves that I didn't hit on this visit, see the ruins of the Victory Hotel, and visit the lighthouse (dependent on the limited tour dates ever lining up with my schedule).  I'd like to stay here overnight sometime, most likely in the offseason.  I'll keep coming until I run out of things to do.

How to Put in Bay

Look, I hope I've put the "party island" rumors to rest - yes you will see drunk people, no nothing unpleasant is going to happen if you walk down the street.

What I think the nastiness is really about is that the island gets very crowded on weekends in the summer resulting in golf cart traffic jams and long waits to get in everywhere.  When we went to Pelee I said that you have to learn "how to Pelee" and in the same spirit for the opposite reason, I think you have to learn "how to Put in Bay".  Crowds are why God invented mornings and the off season.  Plan your day early or on the off season and you'll have this lovely place to yourself.  Don't try to do everything in one visit, just pick 2-3 things and take an "I'm on island time" approach.

Things to know:

• Cell service can be tricky.
• The ferries run all day everyday (except in winter when they don't run at all but it's summer so they run every half hour).  20 minutes on a boat gets you here.
   

Until next time...the final island of our trip.