When we travel to Cleveland, we often head east of the city to rent a house right on Lake Erie. I can sit on a deck or lawn chair looking over the lake listening to the waves hit the shore. Our current favorite house has large plate glass windows where I can sit and read a book or gaze out to the expanse of water. Gulls and even an occasional eagle circle overhead.
From these houses, we have easy access to the art, natural history and other Cleveland museums, as well as restaurants and Cleveland Clinic. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a popular destination.
My husband Gary, a Cleveland native, frequently took his mother to the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, an eastern Cleveland suburb. Exhibitions were about Jewish experiences of immigration, the Depression, the growing antisemitism of the 1930s, legendary sports figures, World War II and the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel. Clevelanders had a significant role in all these eras.
Superman was also created and drawn by two Jewish men in the eastern suburb of Glenville, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Cleveland is also known for its medical care and research at Cleveland Clinic. We stop at nearby Little Italy’s restaurants and Jewish delis to dine and carry out. There are also several Kosher restaurants in Cleveland.
Fishing along the shores of Lake Erie is popular and known for its walleye and yellow perch. Whitefish are dwindling in Lake Erie. To find out why, The Nature Conservancy is sending divers out near Sandusky, Ohio to explore the rock reefs that shelter their spawning.
We’ve found an abundance of hiking trails along and near Lake Erie. Some of my favorite areas are the Metroparks of Lake County, east of Cleveland. There are also popular trails and lake observation points near Toledo, from Maumee Bay to Sandusky.
The Maumee Bay birding event in May attracts birders from across the country and even from overseas. Migrating birds rest and feed on insects in the swamps, marshes, sand beaches, and meadows on the shores of Lake Erie before crossing to Canada for the summer. There are islands in Lake Erie where they pause to rest.
Pelee Island in the middle of Lake Erie is a popular destination to watch the spring and fall bird migrations as well as for summer vacations. It’s the home of multiple bird sanctuaries, vineyards, and a winery. Accessible from Sandusky by a twenty-minute flight all year or by ferries during the summer, Pelee Island is a southernmost island of Ontario, Canada, so don’t forget to bring a passport.
There’s a famous birding event over Mother’s Day weekend called SpringSong, started by Margaret Atwood and her Pelee Island Bird Observatory. SpringSong is presented by the Pelee Island Heritage Centre (PIHC). Famed author Margaret Atwood is an active birder who founded The Pelee Island Bird Observatory devoted to the study and conservation of birds and their habitats. Atwood wrote many of her books while on Pelee Island and often introduces other famous authors at the Mother’s Day weekend event. This year, visitors had the additional bonus of seeing the Aurora Borealis on their birding expedition.
People with binoculars flock to the boardwalks and trails through meadows and forest along Lake Erie. Traveling with experienced birders, I learned to spot and observe the birds with my binoculars and hear their songs. Some were birds I’d seen before in Cincinnati. Others were new to me. I saw my first Warblers, Killdeer, Eastern Screech Owl, and Eastern Kingbird, among others. Eagles nest in the trees along the lake.
During prohibition, Lake Erie was called the “Jewish Lake.” Alcohol was a lucrative business, and Jewish bootleggers were all in. Samuel Bronfman, the Jewish owner of Seagram’s, organized boats to cross into Canada to pick up “booze.” More than half of bootleggers were Jewish.
It’s nice to have a beautiful and interesting place in such close driving distance to Cincinnati.
