Humble Beginnings
The North Coast of Ohio is one of the most frequented tourist destinations in the state during the summertime. Attractions like Cedar Point and the Erie Islands attract visitors from around the country. However, there is a place on Lake Erie where everyone is family and is empowered by the spirit of the lake. This place where the heartland meets the lake is called Catawba Island. Catawba Island is home to 3,500 residents and countless more visitors during the summer months. With an abundance of fine dining, boating services, Erie Island access, and lakeside fun, Catawba Island embodies the spirit of coastal Ohio living. While the area may be a utopia for summer visitors and residents, the spirit of Catawba lies in its humble beginnings and the effect the people of the Island have had on its landscape and coastline.
Catawba Island had its first brush with modern civilization when it was designated within the confines of "the Firelands" after a series of fires in Connecticut after the Revolutionary War left hundreds of people homeless. This land was set aside for people who had lost properties in these fires so they may build a new life for themselves. However, when people began to arrive they found that natives still ruled the area and the majority of the territory was an impassable swamp. Catawba was home to the Ottawa Tribe of Native Americans who lived as subsistence farmers and scavengers who shared the land among its people. To this day, arrowheads can be found in the many farm fields covering Catawba. Unfortunately, as more settlers and entrepreneurs came to the island, the Ottawas were slowly forced out of their land and disappeared. However, the home of the last full-blood Ottawa Native American, Bettsy Mo-John, is still standing on Catawba and serves as a tribute to the area’s pre-modern past.
The first European settlers in the area began to appear in the 1830s, filling in the void created by the flight of the Natives. As a result, Ottawa county was created in 1840 and was divided into townships. Catawba Island Township, originally Van Rensalaer township, was renamed Catawba in 1863 in honor of the Island's most profitable industries, grape farming, and winemaking. While the early days of industry on Catawba had many different avenues including fishing, trapping, and a short-lived cement industry, the conditions of Northern lakeside Ohio made agriculture one of the area’s most profitable industries. The Catawba Grape, named after its place of origin along the banks of the Catawba River in North Carolina, came to Catawba Island in 1844 and began a movement called "Grape Fever". This trend covered the island and by the 1860s, seventy percent of the island’s producing vines were of the Catawba variety.
The growth of grapes sprouted the origins of the wine industry in the area. One of the area’s specialty wines, Pink Catawba, was accidentally made when a batch of wine using Catawba grapes was double fermented, giving the liquid a Champagne-like texture. Multiple wineries were built on the island to accommodate the number of grapes being produced. One such winery was founded by grape growers from Catawba and Marblehead as a cooperative in 1872. This winery still operates today under the name Gideon Owen, the name of one of the original wine producers on the island. However, the grape industry would soon be overturned by another fruit: peaches! After the Civil War, the island transitioned from having a mostly grape-based agriculture to a peach-based one. While peaches had been grown on the island since the 1850s, the lengthy speculation of the "Firelands", along with inefficient transportation systems did not allow the peach industry to take off for another twenty years. When the peach industry did take off, tree saplings were planted in between rows of grapevines to help support the tree's growth. Once the tree could bear fruit the grapevines were removed, dramatically decreasing the number of grapes produced on the island. A prominent peach grower James Gamble, who served in the area during the Civil War, estimated there were 200,000 fruit-bearing peach trees on Catawba during the 1890s.
With the amount of business and income the grape, wine, and peach industries brought to the area, Catawba became a vacation hotspot at the turn of the twentieth century. At this time, local businessmen and entrepreneurs began to build grand wooden hotels and inns to house tourists during the summer months. This in combination with the mass development of private cottages like the Holt cottage and lakeside beach areas, has made Catawba one of the most frequently visited vacation areas in Northern Ohio. Early visitors to the area enjoyed many activities like fishing, hunting, and water sports. Even when the weather got cold, people found ways to have fun including ice fishing and sailing on Lake Erie ice using iceboats.
While the landscape of Catawba Island has changed significantly since the beginning of the 19th century, the people who call Catawba home remain the same hard-working and family-oriented people that have lived here for generations. The lake remains at the heart of island living as it draws people and businesses from all walks of life. Come with me as I take a deep dive into the Island's history and talk with some of the people who call it home.