the shorelines of Ohio, Michigan, and
Ontario.
The Memorial opens for the 2019
season on May 18. The free Put-in-Bay
Music Festival will be June 8. It brings
Bluegrass, New Grass, Zydeco, Folk,
and Rhythm & Blues to the island. The
104th Memorial Anniversary celebra-
tion takes place June 13. Oliver Hazard
Perry’s 234th Birthday Celebration will
be held August 25-26. The Memorial’s
signature event is the Historic Weekend
(Sept. 6-8) with a traditional historic en-
campment, music, and musket firing.
The island has a host of other ac-
tivities that will engage kids and their
parents. There are more than 25 caves,
two of which are open for tours daily.
Crystal Cave at the Heineman Winery
is the world’s largest recorded geode.
The walls of Crystal Cave are covered
in celestite crystals, used in the manu-
facturing of fireworks. Workers digging
a well for the winery discovered the cave
in 1897.
Historical documents show that
men under the command of Perry dis-
covered a limestone cave 40 feet un-
derground during their occupation of
the island in 1813. Of course, it is now
named Perry’s Cave. Perry used the un-
derground stream in the cave for drink-
ing water during the hot summer prior to
the Battle of Lake Erie. The water is a
consistent 50 degrees year-round.
Transportation on the island is easy
and part of the fun of visiting. There are
regular trolley tours as well as bikes for
rent. But the most popular mode of trans-
port is the golf cart and there are some
that are big enough for the whole family.
Some rental companies offer advance
booking, especially good for weekends
and holidays when the numbers of visi-
tors swell. Kayaks and wave runners are
also available for rent.
Though small, the island boasts a
wide array of restaurants and accommo-
dations including resorts, hotels, homes,
cottages, condos, campgrounds and
B&Bs. The island’s population swells
in the summer but there is a small year-
round population.
Children attend school on the main-
land and use the ferry system for trans-
portation. But when the lake freezes, the
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April 2019 WNY Family 23