The Marblehead Peninsula Offers You the Best of the Vacationland

Jutting out into Lake Erie about 40 miles east of Toledo and 70 miles west of Cleveland, Marblehead is a place apart from big city bustle and industrial pollution.

Visitors will find a variety of small restaurants, quaint shops, food markets, accommodations, and service-oriented businesses, most of which are family owned and operated.

The rocky Marblehead coastline, with Lake Erie on the north and Sandusky Bay to the south offers opportunities for a variety of water-related activities. Dockage and charter boat services can be found at our many marinas. There are also public and private boat launching facilities.

The village of Marblehead is home to the busiest United States Coast Guard station on the Great Lakes and the famous Marblehead Lighthouse, the oldest continuously operating light on the Great Lakes. Downtown Marblehead features gift and antique shops, in new and restored buildings which retain an old fashioned flavor. Several art galleries display paintings and prints for sale, including those by nationally known Marblehead artist Ben Richmond.

On the northern shore of the Peninsula is Lakeside, a Victorian-era village which presents a summer-long Chautauqua of cultural and family-oriented activities. The 150-year-old Marblehead quarry covers the interior of the Peninsula, creating a unique landscape and a habitat for the Lakeside daisy. This small, yellow wild flower blooms only on the Peninsula and in two areas of Canada. Lake freighters and barges load quarry stone at the dock next to the Coast Guard station via overhead conveyors.

Marblehead also offers access to Kelleys Island via Neuman Boat Line or the Kelleys Island Ferry Boat Lines, Inc., both of which operate auto and passenger ferries.

For a switch from the laid-back pace of Marblehead and Kelleys, visitors can drive to nearby Sandusky, home of the famous Cedar Point amusement park.