Mr. P. Explores... Kelleys Island Winery Ruins (Kelleys Island, Ohio)

Heading out to Kelleys Island, north of Sandusky, Ohio and out in the waters of Lake Erie, we explored some amazing places between this summer and fall, but none so beautiful and awe-inspiring as the old winery ruins that sit back in the woods beyond the line of sight, brooding like a medieval castle in the middle of some fairy-tale world. Our first trip to this magnificent spot this summer led to a fascination with the grand ruins that now exist within the island's forest, but alas, this summer someone forgot to pack his Go-Pro so photos were all that we captured. This brought us to the decision to return this autumn to try again, and also to hopefully capture the beautiful changing of the leaves in the process. Despite the rain that peppered the area that morning, we were able to capture the winery in all of its splendor (raindrops on the lens nonwithstanding) and we were even able to get some excellent footage of the subterranean wine cellars that are still in great shape and intact. One can almost see and feel the history happening there from across a century, back when this site was a thriving business.

A little on the winery, from Atlas Obscura: "In the mid-19th century the island’s grape growers formed a co-op, the Kelleys Island Wine Company. Using native stone quarried just up the road, they built a large, impressive commercial winery on the island. The beautiful stone winery resembled a feudal castle, and processed about 350,000 gallons of wine and champagne each year, pressed from grapes grown throughout island. Steam-powered presses on the upper story crushed the grapes, which were fermented below, then bottled or stored in casks in the underground cellars. Every winter, workers driving horse-drawn sleighs carted huge wooden casks filled with wine across a frozen Lake Erie to Sandusky on the mainland, where the popular wine was sold around the world. Though Prohibition in 1920 killed off breweries and wineries across the nation, Kelleys Island Wine Company and the island’s other winery, Sweet Valley Winery (renamed Monarch in 1902) survived by producing non-alcoholic grape juice. The building’s demise came on August 15, 1933, when sparks from a small locomotive at a rock quarry ignited a grass fire that consumed the neighborhood. The blaze destroyed the winery and the charred structure was left in ruins..."

And its been there ever since. Enjoy the walk through one of Kelleys Island's most beautiful spots, accompanied by the sound of the rain falling and a little music to set the mood... -Mr. P.

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