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Lakeside
It's called the Lakeside experience. In a world where everything seems to be going at hyper-speed, you can step back in time at Lakeside along the shores of Lake Erie. Values and traditions are the heart of this community. Lakeside is located on the Marblehead Peninsula, halfway between Toledo & Cleveland.
Lakeside began as a small tract of cleared land, a campsite where Christian revivals often took place. The deed to part of what is now Lakeside was purchased by the Central Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church. Financial backers and organizers included Rev. Richard P. Duvall, who at one time had done missionary work for relocated Sac and Fox Indians in Oklahoma; B. H. Jacobs, a Danish immigrant who owned a store in nearby Port Clinton and who was a Civil War veteran; and Samuel R. Gill, twenty-seven years of age, who had grown up on the Marblehead peninsula.
Lakeside is a gated community from the end of May through Labor Day. To enter Lakeside during the summer season, individuals must pay a gate fee, which helps support maintenance and improvements in town. Activities that are provided as part of the gate fee include sport and water sport activities, as well as Christian-themed activities and worship, in keeping with the area's history. There is a program every night in the spacious Hoover Auditorium, 24 professional quality shuffleboard courts, 9 tennis courts, and all kinds of children's activities. The summer calendar includes some activities for which there is an extra charge, such as miniature golf, movies at the Orchestra Hall Theatre, and an historical tour of homes.
Lakeside also has a large pier jutting into Lake Erie, which offers fishing and swimming. Lakeside also features a handful of unique stores. Additionally, the dining opportunities in the area are varied, including numerous types of cuisine and a variety of settings. There is a dining room in the Hotel Lakeside as well.
The best way of getting around in the community is to either bring your bicycle, rent one, or rent a golf cart. Of course, you can always walk. What you don't want to do is bring your car into the village as parking is at a premium, and besides, once you're inside, there's no need for a car. Most people will park outside the park and ride one of the shuttle trams back to their cottage or the hotel.
Hotel Lakeside
Lakeside has a wide variety of accommodations. Hotel Lakeside is more than 130 years old. President Rutherford B. Hayes stayed at the Hotel for reunions of his old Civil War regiment, the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
When staying there, you can almost image big-hatted Victorian ladies strolling through the lobby. The hotel was built in 1875 and enlarged in 1879 and again in 1890. The hotel has 76 guest rooms. There is also a large screened porch where you can relax watching the lake or some of the many activities. The lobby is furnished with a variety of antiques and period furniture and green wicker chairs, large ceiling fans and stained glass windows.
Above: Rutherford B. Hayes at the Hotel Lakeside in 1883 during a reunion of the 23rd OVI. Hayes is seated just left of center with white shirt and flowered lapel.
The guest rooms offer a variety of antiques with period wallpapers and additional furnishings. All of the rooms feature high ceilings.
While the hotel is great for a weekend visit, most people rent one of the individually owned cottages for the week. Cottages and houses run the gamut in size, style and furnishings. Rentals are arranged through one of the real estate companies located in the village or occassionally through individual owners.
Lakeside Daisy Festival
On the Marblehead Peninsula a 19-acre nature preserve was created on the old limestone quarry to protect and save the endangered flower called the Lakeside Daisy. The Lakeside Daisy is a bright yellow wildflower found only in this area of Ohio and a couple of spots in Ontario Canada.
Every May, when the Lakeside Daisy blooms, the village of Marblehead celebrates the flower by hosting a festival known as Lakeside Daisy Day.
The Lakeside Daisy is a perennial flower that grows where few others can, on nearly barren limestone bedrock in full sunlight. In early to mid-May, the bright yellow flowers of the Lakeside daisy adorn the otherwise bleak, sun-baked landscape of the Marblehead Quarry. Each basal rosette of leaves usually produces a single 6" - 11" tall, leafless, erect stalk topped with a solitary flower.
The Festival is typically held the 2nd weekend of May.
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