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The Ottawa County Historical Society offers a number of books and various items for sale in the Annex located next to the Wolcott Keeper’s House. We are listing here our most popular items. If you wish to purchase any of these items, download the Order Form here, complete and mail it along with your check or money order as indicated.

New OCHS Merchandise

History of Ottawa County - The First 175 Years (2016) By Patrick O'Keeffe

300 pages, narrative with color and b/w photographs
Price: $49.95

Narrative with over 300 b/w and color photos. This sweeping story of the County blends the history of the lands with stories of its early settlers. Presented through a series of major themes—early geography and settlers; mainsprings of development: quarries, railroads, lumber, agriculture, and roads; sweeping changes impacting the 19th and 20th centuries; the Depression; American wars and its associated cultural changes; and finally returning to the geography of the present.

A Record of People, Times and Places (2014) Cover

The Ottawa County Historical Society: A Record of People, Times and Places (2014) By Richard Taylor

73 pages,
Price: $7.00

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ottawa County Historical Society, Past President Richard Taylor prepared this background of the Society. His research resulted in a fascinating and useful County record of the people, communities, and progress. The story of the Society is a tribute to those who honor the special relationship between the land and its people.

Page & Stage Oral History 8-Volume Series: “The People of Ottawa County”

Volume I: How We Got Here, What We Did—Early Settlers and Their Enterprise (2003)

98 pages
Price: $15

Content---Map of Ottawa County -1940; George Rudes: Electric Railways; Grace Niehousmyer: The Interurban; Josephine Sauvey Monak: Lakeside Memories; Donald Caldwell: Lakeside Through the Years; Laura Bancroft Powell: A Summer Visitor; Stanley Bourdo: Toussaint and Bootlegging; Adelaide Hull Martin: Life in Elmore; Audrey Yackee: Martin General Store; Russell Yackee: Forest Park; Melba Johnson Hahn Schulte: A Genoa Farm; Lorna McRitchie Eberly: Catawba Island; Donald Rhodes: Catawba Fruit Farms; Marjorie Taylor: Grant School; Jospeh Hrupcho: World War II; Henry Jacoby: Law Enforcement; Harry Holzapfel: St John Lutheran Church

Volume II: Recollections and Voices—History Through a Personal Point of View (2004)

83 pages
Price: $15

Content---Harris-Elmore Librarian, Grace Luebcke; Ottawa County's Last Native Americans; The Clif Frye Years: 1918-1941; Jose DeRivera's Journal: First Citizen, Clarence Perry: Commercial Fishing in Port Clinton; Frank Shessler: Black Swamp Farming, A Brief History of Long's Crossing; Wilbur Wistinghausen: Oak Harbor Country Life; Joe Parker: Bootlegging on Put-in-Bay; Helen Danchisen: Biro Manufacturing Origins; Robert Boytim: Czechoslovakia and Marblehead; Joe Parker: Middle Island and the Wind Industry; Betty Blair Mauk: Put-in-Bay Summers; Don Rhodes: Orchards and Vineyards on Catawba; Clif Fry: Catawba Island Memoirs; Anna Bovia: Camp Perry Origins; Frank & Algarin: Spanish America & Ottawa County; Betty Neidecker: An Ottawa County Heritage; Bob Reynolds: Matthews Boat Company Origins; Paul Clemons: The Clemonses of Marblehead; Paul Moon: Port Clinton & Beyond; Lakeside Portfolio: George Gundlach, Katherine Barber, Helen Munger, Gailord Braithwaite, Alice Coffin Arnold, Norton Young; Outline Map of Ottawa County, Ohio 1900.

Volume III: Across the Townships—County Diversity (2006)

141 pages, including 122 photographs from family albums
Price: $15

Content---Photo Portfolio 1: County Places; Photo Portfolio 2: Names; Bob & RuthEngle: An Island History; Emil Ihnat: Marblehead Overview; Photo Portfolio 3: Lakeside-Marblehead; Doris Bright: Lakeside Memories; The Gackstetters: A German Heritage; Photo Portfolio 4: The Gackstetter Collection; Louise Liske: Rocky Ridge; Pauline Gulau: Carroll Township Schools; Photo Portfolio 5: Lacarne; Wilbur Wistinghausen: The Country School & Harold Bower: Genoa Schools; Helen Neishousmyer; PhotoPortfolio 6: County Schools; Gwen Addy: North Bass School; Rachel Carr Falconer: Mouse Island; Betty Neidecker: The Islands; Photo Portfolio 7: Fishing Lake Erie's Western Basin; Don Rhodes: Fishing & Bootlegging in the 1930s: Photo Portfolio 8: Prohibition; Lucille Jess: A Chapter of American Life Completely Gone; Photo Portfolio 9: The County Home; Herold Bower: Community Stories of Genoa; Mills Brandes: Captain Hunter & the Lighthouse at Marblehead; Rex Jordan: Lake Captain Marblehead; Photo Portfolio 10: Western Township Quarries; Katherine Duff: Vineyards; Mills Brandes: Childhood with Lighthouse Keeper; Ed Islay's Island Interviews: Pal Seymour, Dorothy L. Schillumeit, Lolita Saunders, Marian Gump, Nello F. Bianchi; Photo Portfolio 11: The Generations of World War II; Photo Portfolio 12: Environment; Notes on Ottawa County's Oral History Project by Janet Stephenson.

Volume IV: Threads and Textures of a Tapestry—One Landscape, Many Lives (2008)

127 pages
Price: $15

Content---Helen Hutt: Sand Road & Port Clinton; Vernon Zenser: Carroll Township & the Marshes; Betty Lidster & John Scribner: Magee Marsh Memories; John Rofkar: Boot Camp at Leyte Gulf; Lois Svehal: Port Clinton; Richard Taylor: The Grange, A Personal Recollection; Sarah Circle of Trinity UM Church, Port Clinton; Myron "Mike" Witt: Oak Harbor; Lloyd & Audrey Dayton: Life on a Danbury Fruit Farm; Vernon Wiersma: Farming & Early Schools; Jimmy Webb: Local Restaurants & Bar Tending; Edward Dress: Marblehead & the Quarry; Betty Blatt: Growing Up in Carroll Township; James Thierry: Ottawa County Courts; Jeanne Wonnell & Robert Stevens: Catawba Island; Robert Stevens: Standard Products Company; Put-in-Bay Memories; Ellen Bergman & Jeff Eversman: Genoa, Ohio - Our Civil War; Shirley Dornbusch: Carroll Township Through the Years; Photograpic Gallery

Volume V: Ottawa County Through Their Eyes—A Collection of Oral Histories (2011)

140 pages
Price: $15

Content---Donna Gyde: Carroll Township; Duane Adams: Catawba Island - Port Clinton; George McCormick: Lakeside - Lakeside Hotel; Milton Long: Bay Township & Port Clinton; Ethel Wilber: Port Clinton; Paul Rofkar: Catawba Island; Tom & Barb Lane: Lakeside-Marblehead; Frank Gluth: Oak Harbor; Bob Underwood: Underwood's Restaurant; Bob Bredbeck: Danbury Township; Gus Cooper: Put-in-Bay & Cooper's Restrauant; Thelma Thomas: Port Clinton; John Fritz: Port Clinton; Bob & Donna Oberhaus: Danbury & Peninsula Transit Service; Evelyn Schimming: Elliston; David Glick: Lakeside; Lea Debien: Locust Point & Port Clinton; Darrell Opfer: Elmore

Volume VI: Memories & Adventures—A Collection of Oral Histories (2014)

123 pages
Price: $15

Content---Ford Tri-Motor; Richard Sneary: The County Courthouse Clock; Dorothy Ostling: Erie Proving Ground; Bob Zura: Our Beloved Sign; Mary Alice Streeter: Gerner & Wolf Funeral Home; Herman Kohlman: Benton Township: Dorothy Patrick: Aviation Career; John Liske: Oak Harbor Historian; Dave Martin: Island Airlines; Marie Bolander: Teaching Career; Kenneth Harvey: Oak Harbor; Dr. Derrill & Chuck Hablitzel: Oak Harbor Hardware; Tom Corogin: A Conversation; Bob Schraidt: Peach Farming on Catawba Island; Jack Tibbels: Ice Fishing; Bruce Waters: Elmore, Ohio; Dave St. Clair: Commercial Fishing; Mary Lou Hansen: Graytown; Jeanne Huskey: Port Clinton

Volume VII: The Stories Continue (2019)

156 pages
Price: $15

Content---Louis Heineman: Island Wine Maker; Thelma Harder (Salem Township): Rural Farm Lady; Joan Ziegler: Summers at Put-in-Bay; Edward Kirk: My Memoirs; Marion Ververka: Marblehead Quarry; Harold Brown: A Tuskegee Airman; Dale Burris & Paul Stonerook: Life on North Bass Island; Scott Hall: Aunt Marion's Visitor; Stanley Dempsey: Bay Point; Lois Schafer Deitzel: The J. Weller Company Oak Harbor; Trinity United Methodist Church 185th Anniversary; A Day Picnicking at Catawba Island; Russell Brohl: Lake Freighter Captain; Steve Fedyk: Buckeyes; Mary Ann McCann: Put-in-Bay Businesswoman; Florence & Lucille Fralick: Old Island House Hotel; Danbury Train Derailment 1945; George Stoiber: Put-in-Bay Businessman; John Frederick Jaeger: Elmore Memories; Bernell Lowien: Marblehead; Swimsuits for Rent - Gem & Terrace Beach - Catawba Island; Paul & Donna Rhiel: Rhiel Manufacturing Port Clinton

Volume VIII: Milestones and Memories (2022)

135 pages
Price: $15

Content: Marblehead Lighthouse Keepers; vintage photos of the Marblehead Lighthouse; The Wolcott Keeper's House - home of Benajah Wolcott; Capt. Edward Herman, Marblehead Lighthouse Keeper; Mart Boss - Leatherport, Ohio; Leatherport, Ohio USA; Port Clinton High School Class of 1938; Office of the Sheriff - Ottawa County; Ella Searles, Lakeside, Ohio; The First Port Clinton Lighthouse Keepers; Wistinghausen Florist & Greenhouse; Miss Heckman, Elmore, Ohio; Mom's Memories, Danbury Township; Ohler & Holzhauer Plumbing & Heating, Port Clinton; Amelia Johnson, Genoa, Ohio; The Lockwood Farm - East Harbor State Park; John & Marie Wonnell, Lakeside, Ohio; Eagle Island, Bay Township; Gordon Lumber Company; Elizabeth Otto Wilson & Mary Louise Otto, Lakeside, Ohio; Joyce Kirk Dubbert, Port Clinton; Pool Clinical Hospital, Port Clinton

Along the Highways and Waterways of Ottawa County: Historic Homes, Buildings, and Other Interesting Places in Ottawa County, Volume I (2017)

263 pages
Price: $20

Page&Stage, the Ottawa County Historical Society Oral History Committee, has published six volumes of oral history, interviewing county residents and historians. Now we have focused on the buildings, places, and monuments that these same people and others shaped with their hands and their hard work. These physical contributions have been important in shaping our county's history as places of residence, business, memories, government, and social gatherings. We have written this volume by researching the sites, collecting old photos, taking new photographs, and interviewing people involved with building or maintaining them. We have done our best to be accurate, but origins of old places are sometimes difficult to determine. County residents familiar with our subjects have been generous with their time, knowledge, photographs, and literature regarding these places. We hope you will enjoy learning about the diversity of our county through the places our people have built and preserved and that you will consider sharing your information about places we have not been able to include in this volume.

Historic Driving Tour Guides: Historic Railroads of Western Ottawa County

14 pages
Price: $4

This western Ottawa County tour starts in the Village of Oak Harbor and inludes the Toledo Port Clinton & Lakeside interurban Portage River Bridge, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Depot, the Village of Rocky Ridge, Limestone, Graytown, Elliston, Trowbridge, Williston, Curtice, Clay Center, Martin, Genoa, Elmore, and ends at Oak Harbor.

Marblehead Lighthouse on Lake Erie By James Proffitt (2015)

160 pages
Price: $21.95

When the Marblehead Lighthouse first lit its flame in 1822, it drew on whale oil. The beacon flickered through lard, kerosene and LED lights over the next two centuries, while the tower weathered razing and reorganization. Despite the advent of GPS, the light still provides a solid basis for boats and ships to navigate the nearshore waters of the Peninsula. The Lighthouse's rich history boasts the first female keeper on the Great Lakes, as well as a place on Ohio license plates and on a U.S. postage stamp. James Proffitt gives an in-depth profile of the most photographed site in the State.

Lights at the Portage, A History of the Port Clinton Light Station, 1833-1952 By Richard J. Norgard (2017)

Price: $10

From back cover: Anyone fortunate enough to visit the charming lakefront community of Port Clinton, Ohio, is greeted by the sight of a diminutive lighthouse, white with forest green trim, overlooking the Lake Erie shore. Fortunate, indeed, because there is not another one like it anywhere. Beginning in 1896 the Port Clinton Lighthouse cast its steady red light over Lake Erie's sparkling blue-green waters for 56 years, guiding vessels safely into the harbor. Scheduled for destruction by the U.S. Coast Guard, local marina operators decided instead that the old light was worth saving and it remained under the watchful eye of caring family members. Sixty years later, in 2011, a group of dedicated volunteers set about restoring the Lighthouse to its original condition. The Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy accomplished what many thought impossible and in 2016 moved the restored light back to the Lake Erie Shore. This book tells the fascinating story of the Port Clinton's pier light, including its restoration and relocation. Norgard also reveals the untold saga of a young wilderness community's first lighthouse and the town's struggle to convince the government that its safety and indeed, its very livelihood, depended on its beacon of light. The book is also available for purchase at the Port Clinton Lighthouse located at 205 East Perry Street in Port Clinton.

Johnson’s Island: A Prison for Confederate Officers By Roger Pickenpaugh (2016)

Price: $18

In 1861, Lt. Col. William Hoffman was appointed to the post of commissary general of prisoners and urged to find a suitable site for the construction of what was expected to be the Union’s sole military prison. After inspecting four islands in Lake Erie, Hoffman came upon one in Sandusky Bay known as Johnson’s Island. With a large amount of fallen timber, forty acres of cleared land, and its proximity to Sandusky, Ohio, Johnson’s Island seemed the ideal location for the Union’s purpose. By the following spring, Johnson’s Island prison was born. Johnson’s Island tells the story of the camp from its planning stages until the end of the war. Because the facility housed only officers, several literate diary keepers were on hand; author Roger Pickenpaugh draws on their accounts, along with prison records, to provide a fascinating depiction of day-to-day life. Hunger, boredom, harsh conditions, and few luxuries were all the prisoners knew until the end of the war, when at last parts of Johnson’s Island were auctioned off, the post was ordered abandoned, and the island was mustered out of service. There has not been a book dedicated to Johnson’s Island since 1965. Roger Pickenpaugh presents an eloquent and knowledgeable overview of a prison that played a tremendous role in the lives of countless soldiers. It is a book sure to interest Civil War buffs and scholars alike.

I Fear I Shall Never Leave This Island: Life in a Civil War Prison By David R. Bush (2012)

Price: $18

Johnson’s Island, in Sandusky, Ohio, was built in 1862 specifically to house captured Confederate officers. In part because of the educational background and access to money enjoyed by those individuals, a distinctive prison culture developed. David Bush has spent more than two decades leading archaeological investigations at the site, and has uncovered a wealth of material culture that demonstrates the magnitude of POW craft jewelry manufacture, especially rings created by officer-prisoners for loved ones back home. In I Fear I Shall Never Leave This Island Bush pairs these discoveries with a deep reading of extant letters, including a rich trove of correspondence between Captain Wesley Makely, captured shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg, and his wife, Kate, at home in Alexandria, Virginia. Bush captures in compelling detail the physical challenges and emotional toll of prison life and offers fascinating insights into the daily lives of prisoners, guards, and the homefront. No other collection of Civil War letters offers such a rich context; no other archaeological investigation of Civil War prisons provides such a human story.

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New OCHS Merchandise

T-Shirt

Coffee Mug

Cat's Meow Collectible of Keeper’s House (Woodcut)

Cat's Meow Collectible of Marblehead Lighthouse (Woodcut)

Cat’s Meow Collectible of Port Clinton Lighthouse (Woodcut)

Tote Bag