Sandusky – RDZ Photography

North Central Ohio – May 2021 – Wanderings on a Saturday

Architecture, History, Nature, Transportation, Water Features

A recent Saturday was spent wandering the back roads of North Central Ohio from Columbus all the way to Lake Erie.

First stop was in the small town of Mt Gilead, the county seat of Morrow County. The old county jail dates from 1850.

Next door is a soldiers monument.

Next stop – Galion, where we checked out the old train station and theater.

The Huron County Courthouse clocktower in Norwalk.

At last – the Lake Erie shoreline in the town of Huron. The lighthouse was built in 1939, reflecting the style of the period.

Sandusky is the center of the lakeshore for this area. Home to what is generally acknowledged as the best amusement park in the world (Cedar Point), Sandusky relies heavily on tourism.

Starting back south we made a stop in Castalia, at the fish hatchery. Unfortunately it was closed, but the nearby creek has a number of well feed fish, along with some birds looking for lunch.

We passed through Bellevue and had the photo op of a very long, slow moving freight train passing the Mad River Railroad Museum – providing a contrast of the size of locomotive from the past and today.

Time to cruise on home, amazingly following the same vintage car southbound that we were behind for about 20 miles going north earlier.

Sandusky, Ohio – July 2018 – Festival of Sail

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Nature, Sciences, Transportation

Over the years we have had the opportunity to see a few ‘Tall Ships’ festivals, which is an event we always look forward to. This year they had a stop in Sandusky.

Sandusky is the home of Cedar Point amusement park, as well as a departure point to the Lake Erie Islands.

One of this years event was the ‘World’s Largest Duck’, which dwarfed the island ferry boat.

This festival had 5 ships: U.S Brig Niagara, Schooner Madeline, Appledore IV, S/V Denis Sullivan and the Nettie G. Howard.

The Niagara is the largest, with an impressive main mast and crows nest.

While all of the ships had professional pilots, much of the staff were high school students on a 4-5 week learning adventure.

These ships always have an amazing number of ropes.

The device below is not a table, it is basically used for leverage pulling heavy sails up and down.

We had purchased a 90 minute ‘sailing’ on the Nettie Howard.

As we waited to board we were amused as one of the trainee crew members struggled to grab one of the ropes.

Just before we left we were serenaded by an acapella group.

Once on board the crew pulled up a couple of the sails.

While others neatly stacked the ropes.

Our exit from the dock gave a great view of the Niagara.

The sails were impressive from the bottom.

One of the professional crew had started out a few years ago as a volunteer, and liked it so much he has made it a career.

Constant training occurred during our sail.

Our 90 minute sailing was slow, we never even made it out of Sandusky Bay, but did have a nice view of Cedar Point.

Before you knew it we were nearing the dock and the sails came down.

And they threw the ropes to the dock hands to tie us up.

Sandusky, OH – June 2005 – Cedar Point Amusement Park

Architecture, Festival

Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio has been going strong for almost 150 years. While many of the old parks disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s, Cedar Point has continually expanded throughout.

These photos were taken in 2005, causing me to want to go back and document how much of what I captured then is gone now. In my opinion Cedar Point was, is and will likely always be the best amusement park in the world.

Top Thrill Dragster – 400′ high, and 0-120 in 3.8 seconds.

Max Air – A Giant Frisbee Ride

The Ferris Wheel – 136′ high

The train and Mean Streak coaster meet at the beach.

A portion of Millenium Force

A jumble of coasters.

Raptor from the bucket ride with Sandusky Bay in the background.

Max Air in action.

Mantis – Stand Up Coaster

The classic Wild Mouse

An aerial view from the top of the rotating elevator. The smugs on the right are from the dirty windows, but the view of the ferris wheel and Wicked Twister make it worthwhile.