Summer Pleasures * Previous sales, special orders & layaways excluded. ChECk OUT THE PAINTERS ANd WALLPAPER HANGERS IN OUR MARkETplACE HOME ANd SERVICE CUIdE 5/22 1997 S28 Now producing 18 wines and juices from native grapes and European hybrids, it's one of several wineries throughout the Lake Erie region. The art of winemaking took root and pros- pered here in the mid-1800s when Ger- man immigrants, former Rhineland vintners, found the limestone soil and the climate, tempered by the lake effect, highly favorable for growing grapes. A brief ferry ride from Put-in-Bay, in a renovated, Civil War-era stone farm- house on Kelleys Island, the Kelleys Island Wine Co. also offers wine sam- plings. On a laidback island where bicy- cles outnumber cars and birdwatching is a time-honored pastime, the winery's outdoor country wine garden, with a parents' pavilion anci children's play area, often is the hottest spot around. Friday night steak barbecues, Saturday "Brats for a Buck" and Wednesday chicken dinners are popular with locals and visitors alike. Several eateries in the small village serve Lake Erie perch; headquarters for late-night action on this island of 150 year-round residents is Bag the Moon Saloon and the Caddy Shack. Kelleys Island — all 2,800 acres of it — is on the National Register of His- toric Places, thanks to its unusual histo- ry and archeology and its Victorian-fla- vored architecture and atmosphere. The largest freshwater island in the United States, it's named for a pair of Cleveland brothers who bought the entire isle in the 1830s for $4,200 — or just $1.50 an acre. Over the decades, island popu- lation and fortunes have ebbed and flowed, dependent on the vagaries of the wine and limestone industries. Though Kelleys' limestone built many of the grand old buildings in Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo, only one work- ing quarry remains. Visiting Kelleys today, whether for a few hours or a few days, is like taking a step back in time. It demands down- shifting into that lazy, hazy state-of- being known as island time, just right for fishing in the bass- and walleye-rich waters of Lake Erie or curling up with a good book on an old-fashioned glider on the porch of a bed-and-breakfast. The island's dozen b&b's range from quaint Mom-and-Pop-style lodgings to the elegant new Water's Edge Retreat, a three-story, Victorian-style inn, painted turquoise and pink, with private baths, in-suite Jacuzzis and wraparound porch. Cedar Point's resorts are just a short walk away from all the excitement. Other lodging choices include cozy cot- tages, new condos and tent-camping in Kelleys Island State Park. The park, on a sandy beach on the north shore, is across from the island's unique geologic feature, Glacial Grooves State Memorial, the largest such glacial formation in North America. Gashed 15 feet deep into the limestone bedrock by retreating glaciers about 30,000 years ago, the grooves were discovered in the early 1960s, less than 40 years ago. They look like a huge strip of gray Turkish taffy, nearly 400 feet long and up to 35 feet across. Visitors strolling around the perimeter also can see fossils of marine invertebrate animals that lived on the floor of the Devonian Sea some 350 million years ago. Back on the island's south shore, and less impressive, Inscription Rock, is a flat-topped limestone boulder with faint etchings from the time more than 300 years ago when Erie Indians roamed the woods. Before the action of waves and people wore them down, the pic- tographs showed birds, animals and eight human figures, some smoking pipes. The rock is across the street from Kelley Mansion, a three-story, Civil War-era landmark noted for its free- standing spiral staircase and rose-col- ored cut crystal windows. Some believe construction work on this and other island homes was performed by Civil War confederate prisoners "borrowed" from a camp on nearby Johnson's Island, just across the lake. Tired of sightseeing? There's plenty of time left to kick back and, fanned by lake breezes, watch the sunset from a hammock. That, after all, is what an island idyll is all about — even in Lake Erie. ❑ Information Station * Ottawa County Visitors Bureau: (800) 441-1271. * Put-in-Bay Chamber of Com- merce: (419) 285-2832. * Sandusky/Erie County Conven- tion & Visitors Bureau: (800) 255- 3743. * Kelleys Island Chamber of Com- merce: (419) 746-2360. * COSI Toledo: (419) 244-2674. * Toledo Zoo: (419) 385-5721. * Tony Packo's Cafe: (419) 691- 1953. * Maumee Bay State Park Resort: (800) 282-7275 or (419) 836- 1466. * Cedar Point: Call (888) 775-4242 for lodging information; ask about special package rates.