Lakeside-Marblehead to hold Lighthouse Festival
MARBLEHEAD — The 26th Annual Lakeside-Marblehead Lighthouse Festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8.
This free, peninsula-wide event features fun for the whole family including tours of the Marblehead Lighthouse and the Wolcott Keeper’s House, live entertainment, children’s games and crafts, a pumpkin-decorating contest, more than 100 arts and crafts vendors, a farmers market and hayrides in Lakeside Chautauqua and the Village of Marblehead.
The Lakeside-Marblehead Lighthouse Festival is organized by Lakeside Chautauqua and the Marblehead Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.
Tours of the popular lighthouse
Tours will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Marblehead Lighthouse State Park, 110 Lighthouse Drive, Marblehead. Cost is $3 per person, ages 6 and under free.
The onsite Keeper’s House, Lifesaving Station, Gift Shop and Marblehead Lighthouse will be open during the festival. Tours of the 200-year-old Marblehead Lighthouse are available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Marblehead Lighthouse is the second oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes and the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the Great Lakes. A total of 15 keepers have tended the light. The tower’s history boasts the first female lighthouse keeper in the U.S., Rachel Miller Wolcott. This year, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will also lead a Fossil & Geology Walk from noon to 4 p.m.
Wolcott Keeper’s House Tours and Civil War Encampment
The Wolcott Keeper's House and Civil War Encampment will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Keeper's House is at 999 E. Bayshore Road, Marblehead.
The Ottawa County Historical Society (OCHS) presents a Civil War-era camp, presented by members of the 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). The 73rd OVI Regiment Band will give hourly performances of period military music.
Docents will provide tours of the historic house that once belonged to Benajah Wolcott, first keeper of the Lighthouse. Period fare, including hot bean soup and cornbread, will be available as well as hearth-cooking demonstrations.
History narrations by History Speaks, Nancy Dunham’s story-telling group, will begin at 12:30 p.m., presenting four different performers in costume with Ohio-oriented tales from the Civil War, including events surrounding the conspiracy to free Confederate prisoners on Johnson’s Island.
The gift shop and museum will be open.
Arts and crafts and a farmers market
In Lakeside, there will be arts and crafts vendors and a farmers market from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Arts and crafts will be at Wesley Lodge, Wo-Ho-Mis Lodge and the South Auditorium. The farmers market will be at the Lakeside Schoolhouse.
At 10 a.m. in the Orchestra Hall, a free program on the Marblehead Lighthouse Builders and Keepers will be held by Lighthouse Historical Society Archivist Lorrie Halblaub. The history of the house stretches back to 1821.
Lakeside Heritage Society will have the Archieves, 210 Walnut St., open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the Heritage Hall Museum, 238 Maple Ave., open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., both are free.
Other activities at Lakeside include hayrides for $2 a person at Hotel Lakeside; music with Tom Todd in front of Hoover Auditorium from 10:30 a.m. to noon and Lance Horwedel from noon to 3 p.m.; and wooden boat rides at $25 for adults and $15 for youths under 12 at the dock.
For more activities visit lakesideohio.com.
rbrooks@gannett.com
419-334-1059
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Lakeside-Marblehead to hold Lighthouse Festival
