Return To Middle Bass Island

A Little History

In the late-1960s, my grandparents bought a piece of property containing a simple, cinderblock cottage on the east point of Middle Bass Island (MBI). My first visit to the island occurred in the summer of 1976, when I was less than a year old, and over the next three decades it became one of my favorite places on earth. Over the years, the rustic nature of the island slowly changed as the facilities were upgraded and the vacant, naturally overgrown lots were sold and developed. In 2005, my grandparents decided they could no longer make the necessary trips and enjoy the cottage, and decided to sell the property. My last visit to the island was in the spring of 2005 and I never expected to return.

The Creation of Middle Bass Island State Park

On July 1, 2000, a terrace at Lonz Winery collapsed, injuring many and causing the death of one person. The winery was shut down to the public and eventually purchased by the state of Ohio with plans to create a state park on the property. After a complete overhaul of the winery, which resulted in much of the original structure being torn down and replaced with an open air entertainment plaza, the state park was opened in 2017.

The Present Day… Why You’re Here

My brother and I had a hook-up for a fantastic, secluded cabin in central Ohio for nearly a decade. The place was inexpensive, nearby and I was on good terms with the owner, so my brother and I would head there at least twice a year to hang-out, drink whiskey and burn firewood for a couple of days at a time. Unfortunately, that opportunity dried-up a few years ago and we haven’t found anything to replace it.

From time to time I’d mention renting a cabin at a state park, but never really looked into it until I got back from my recent road trip. While on that trip, I discovered that I actually kind of liked tent camping, so when I discovered that Middle Bass Island State Park had a campground, I thought it might be an ideal way to camp with my brother and revisit MBI for the first time in seventeen years.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Being that my brother’s a teacher and I’m a consultant, I planned our trip during the week in order to avoid the bigger summer crowds. The ferry to MBI from Catawba only had a few slots on a Tuesday, so we had to make the 11:45 AM trip or wait until 6:15 PM for the next one, which simply meant we had to leave his place by 9 AM to make sure we got there in time. The entire drive brought a flood of memories with it: After all these years, I still vividly remembered the journey. Despite stopping at a grocery store for some final supplies, we still arrived almost an hour and a half before the scheduled ferry. To pass the time, my brother took a nap while I got all nostalgic about things.

Millers Ferry To Middle Bass Island

The ferry ride from Catawba to MBI takes about 45 minutes. It leaves the dock and heads north past the southwest corner of South Bass Island (SBI), then cuts to the northeast and heads around towards the dock at MBI. While I expected changes, little in-fact has changed when it comes to these ferries. Not even the captain who has been running this line since I was a kid! This guy hardly looked like he’d aged in the past 20 years, which leads me to believe that captaining ferries year round isn’t the most stressful job.

The spot on the ferry I wanted was in the back on the starboard side so I could set-up a camera to shoot a time-lapse video of the entire trip. This location would give me the view I was most familiar with from all those previous trips. The weather was quite literally perfect–clear and sunny skies, temperature in the mid-70s–more than I could ever have hoped for, making the ride a blast.

Arrival On The Island

The final fifteen minutes of the trip reveals Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial towering over Put-In-Bay to the south as the facade of Lonz Winery slowly grows with the island it sits on. One of my favorite things was squinting as hard as I could, trying to determine when I’d be able to make-out the outline of the winery’s iconic, green, copper observation tower above the trees on MBI’s southern shore. Given how bad my eyesight is nowadays, it still took me a long time to spot it.

Upon arriving, Dan and I asked some locals about checking-in with the state park and then hauled our packs past the winery to the marina where their offices were. The facilities are relatively new and impressive, complete with individual showers and bathrooms. After checking-in, we then hauled our packs along a trail until we got to our campsite. The campsites were cut into the natural foliage of the area in a way that provided each one an isolated, circular area, complete with picnic table and fire ring. There was plenty of wood and kindling which allowed us to only use a single Duraflame log during the course of the night.

Maxing And Relaxing

After getting our tents set-up, we headed out for a walk, to check-out the winery and make our way to the grocery store up the road. It’s an impressive, heart-warming sight to see how they preserved as much of the winery as they could. The old grape pressing building just north of the winery has been converted into a beautiful coffee shop, and there are plans underway to build a “speakeasy” in another part of the same building. Almost the entire path from our campsite to the grocery store on the main road is paved and contains numerous informational plaques about the island.

The last time I was on MBI, half of the building the grocery store was in was empty. That area is now a full-fledged bar and restaurant. We resisted the urge to hangout and watch the Guardians game, instead just buying some supplies and heading back to camp. Once there, we got into a relaxing evening of drinking, eating and burning firewood. I decided to surprise my brother by bringing the game Risk with me and we played a game of that before it got too dark. Then we stayed up a bit longer listening to the various radio stations that I could tune-in on my radio.

Melancholy

After my brother went to bed, I crawled back out to the shore. This was kind of a sad moment. From the shore on the southeastern part of the island, I could see the east point where I spent so many nights, just like this one, simply sitting on the shore, listening to the waves roll in, imagining all the things that had happened on those waters over the centuries, looking at the stars, smelling that odd fishy smell. It was overwhelming, and, just like the final time I was there, I didn’t want it to end.