Angel Horse

We need to talk about rocks.  Big rocks.  Little rocks.

Yesterday, that girl, I, her sister, and her brother-in-law took a ferry from the shore of Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island.  The island is only five miles from the Canadian border, which bisects the lake.  We golf-carted around the island for most of the day.  South Bass Island is rock number one in our story about rocks.

Upright atop the island stands the world’s most massive Doric column.  The column, rock number two, is a monument made from granite shipped in across the waters of Lake Erie.  The 352 foot column (essentially a lighthouse) is the main feature at Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial.  The memorial commemorates Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory in a naval battle on Lake Erie during the War of 1812.  It also stands as in celebration of the lasting peace between the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

The island’s climate is moderated by the warm waters (relatively speaking) of the lake and is perfect for growing grapes.  In 1888 Gustav Heineman founded Heineman’s Winery on the island.  The winery is still owned by Gustav’s direct descendants.  On the winery grounds today you can tour Crystal Cave.  Crystal Cave, rock number three in our story, is the largest known geode in the world.  A geode, in simple terms, is a hollow rock lined with crystals.  In the case of Crystal Cave, the crystals range in size from that of cellphones to the size of small appliances and the cave is 30 feet in diameter.  The crystals are comprised of celestite strontium sulfate—a blush mineral seeping from the surrounding limestone.  The crystals were at one time harvested for making fireworks.  They produce red in firework displays.

Rock number four (see the photographs posted below) is a mystery.  While scouring a small beach looking for “sea glass,” that girl found Angel Horse at the water’s edge.  Someone drew Angel Horse on a smooth flat stone with an indelible marker and wrote the name on the back side of the stone.

The discovery of Angel Horse is the highlight of my trip to Ohio thus far (with the notable exception of seeing Miss Mackenna, Queen of all Ohio, of course).

I favor the thought that someone—a woman or girl—left the stone there in hopes that someone would discover it.  Obviously, the stone has not suffered a great deal of weather and wear and had not been there for long.

More obviously, Angel Horse will be traveling back to Montana for a lasting home away from the water.

Please note, the photographs of that girl have been posted with her permission. 

--Mitchell Hegman