Early Danbury-Marblehead Peninsula Transportation - Lorrie Halblaub

Ships in the Area - Part 2

In addition to passenger ships and ferry boats, another type of boat began to stop at the peninsula in the early days and still does today—the stone boat.

When Alexander Clemons began quarrying in 1835, he knew that the only way to deliver stone at that time was via water. He built the first dock on the east end of the peninsula near the lighthouse. The Sandusky Bay Lighthouse (later named Marblehead Lighthouse), was visible by day and beamed light by night. Alexander was smart….what better advertising gimmick than to put your business near the only lighthouse in the area? No one would ever miss finding his dock.

As the years went by, more quarries opened and started shipping stone. Limestone quarrying fostered another business that involved shipping. It was the selling of lime from limestone that was burned in kilns. With each new business owner, a new dock was built. By 1863, there were three docks on the peninsula. By 1874, there were nine, and by 1900, there were ten. Eventually all quarrying businesses consolidated into one quarry operation that uses one dock and no lime is sold from here anymore.

Today, the stone boats still come to Marblehead nearly every day. They are now the much larger Great Lakes freighters. Some stone boats are over 1,000 feet long. They can carry over 80,000 tons. Because of their size, they could be called a ship, but traditionally they are called boats. They are majestic in their own industrial way.

It is not unusual to gaze out onto Lake Erie off Marblehead and see a stone boat at the loading dock and one anchored off shore, waiting for its turn. When the boat is finally loaded, the boat’s whistle gives a toot to let everyone know the boat is leaving. It takes hours to load those big freighters with stone. Sometimes it takes all night.

The clickety-clack of the conveyor belt that crosses Main Street is also a familiar sound. The stone is stockpiled by size, across the street from the dock, and doors to the underground part of a conveyor belt system open below the pile. Then the conveyor transports the stone up and over the street and into the waiting boat.

There are four big docks that still exist on the peninsula. They are the Lakeside dock (also built by Clemons), the Coast Guard dock, the Kelleys Island Ferry dock, and the Lafarge Quarry dock. Most other docks are now smaller docks for recreation boats. These are kept at the many marinas that dot the peninsula. Danbury Township has 32.75 miles of shoreline on its perimeter and boats are still a major form of transportation.

If you would like to see the Marblehead Lafarge quarry and the loading of a Great Lakes Freighter, view the following YouTube video that was captured by a drone: