Frozen Universe: Bay Village Lake View During Winter

The City of Bay Village, Ohio is located 15 miles west of Cleveland along five miles of Lake Erie southern shore. It is 15 minutes away from the Islander apartment complex, just take I-71 N, and then I-480 W. Exit the highway on Clague road (exit 7), and then drive for 4 miles until you reach Wolf road. The Wolf road will lead you to the center of the city. From there, the lake is only a 2-minute drive north. See the map below.


View Larger Map


The City Hall (click to enlarge the images).

There were six Indian tribes living around the lake before 1800. Lake Road, which is right where you park, was once a buffalo and Indian trail along the lake. The Indian tribes were forced to sell three million acres of their land in exchange of $19,000 worth of goods. The founding family of Bay Village was the Cahoon family. They were setllers from Rhode Island. Today, the Cahoon park is named after them.


Cahoon park; The 200-years-old house of one of the Bay Village founders (click to enlarge the images).


Get down the stairway to the bay; See the beach and Cleveland downtown in the distance (click to enlarge the images).

This is Huntington Beach named after John Huntington who was a co-owner of one of John D. Rockefeller's companies, Standard Oil. In fact, the so-called lighthouse at Huntington Beach is not a lighthouse at all but it used to be a water-pumping house for the Huntington estate, which was located on the south of Lake Road. The funny part is that Huntington started in the the roofing business, and once had the chance to made the roof of a Standard Oil refinery when the company was new. Rockefeller offered to pay him in Standard Oil stock, and this is how Huntington eventually became a partner in the company.


A view at the bay; The roofer who became rich and famous - Mr. Huntington; Huntington Water tower (click to enlarge the images).

The Huntington Water Tower was used to pump water from the lake to irrigate his fields of grapes in his estate.


The brick pump house at the base of the water water (click to enlarge the images).

Map of the Huntington Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks (source: CityOfBayVillage.com)


Lake breakwalls offer excellent spots for anglers to fish in Lake Erie during the summer ; It is a slippery road on the breakwall now, definitely not recommended to walk on during the winter; The lake and the sky are the same color, divided only by the sunset's pale orange hue.


The T-shaped breakwall; The 'red lava' boulder on the T-breakwall; View at the lake from the T-breakwall (click to enlarge the images).


The lake is freezing in patches; Frozen waves caught before they hit the beach (click to enlarge the images).


Stony beach; The constant danger of having this $ 3 mln house on the cliff above the lake - it can go down if the shore is weakened by the waves...


Lake shells in a frozen wave and some more ice crystals (click to enlarge the images).


These are the four lake brakewalls - good for fishing but during another season...The lake does not look very friendly during the winter.

Don't forget to check city's FAQ with some funny examples like "The neighbor's dog barks all the time. What should I do?" or "I thought I saw a coyote in my backyard. I didn't, did I?"


A hawk hangs in mid-air in the strong wind from Lake Erie. See another related (and better) video.

References:
Bay Village.com, Welcome to Bay Village, Points of interest map, Ohio Fall Foliage photos, History FAQ, Postcard views, Bay Village in Wikipedia, Ohio in Wikipedia

Related:
NG Photo of the Day: Lightning at Huntington Beach.

Published: 01/01/2005
Updated: 12/28/2009

Related books (there is another Huntington Beach in California):