Cedar Point island or peninsula?

I am think that it is an island because you must cross a bridge to get there no matter which road you take. So, what is or was the name of the island? I have not read anything about this before and just thought of it now for some reason. It had to have had a name before it became a park 150 years ago, right?

It was a true peninsula, the original road to it followed the Chausee up to the condos and instead of turning toward the mainland there by the willows it continued along that path and reached the mainland over in what is now the Sheldon Marsh Nature Preserve. The road was washed out/severaly damaged in a bad storm and when it was rebuilt it was rerouted to where it is now. The big gap in the land bridge where the condos have access to the lake from their lagoon area was originally land. I forget what year it happened, pretty sure most of us weren't even born then.

It was still called cedar Point back then even before it was a park because of the Cedar Trees that are said to have been plentiful but interestingly enough true Cedars don't grow in Ohio, the trees in the park now that I had assumed were Cedars are actually Bald Cypress. Found that out when I grew some at home and all the needles fell off in the fall and I did some research to find out why.

I say it is a sandwich. :)

Interesting about the Bald Cypress bit, I never knew that. I'm glad for their mistake in identification though, Bald Cypress Point just doesn't have that ring to it....

We like the trees so much we actually got two for our property.

Chris

The trees that were around Magnum’s exit ramp were bald cypress. I say were because I don’t remember if they’re still there now or not. It was interesting because in the spring they’d be trimmed back to practically nothing and by end of summer they were bushy and pretty again.

They're still there as of last year. They do get an awfully severe haircut most years. Two years ago when closing day had really high winds a branch fell off the tree near the restrooms/first aid area and my husband and I stripped the cones off before maintenance got it, put them in pots and kept them lightly moist in the dining room over winter. In the spring a bunch of little bitty what we thought were Cedars sprouted. I think they are one one of the cooler souvenirs I've gotten from the park. I've been spreading them around to close family and friends that are big park goers.

There is apparently a whole group of trees known as "false cedars" that are often referred to as cedars even though they don't technically belong to the cedar species.

That's cool! I would love to have that too

Something like this would actually be a really cool Earth Day/Go Green type promotion like hat or bobble head day at the ballpark. They could work with their nursery/landscaper to grown them and hand them out as you leave the park. In grade school we always got sent home with a small sapling on Arbor Day I think. A good way to help cement the emotional attachment to the park with the kids.

Good creative idea Cargo Shorts, except cement in your last sentence made me pause.....

I grabbed a couple of the cones off those trees a couple of Halloweekends ago with the same intentions but unfortunately they had already shed their seeds. One day I'll get them. I love those trees.

Cargo Shorts said:

In grade school we always got sent home with a small sapling on Arbor Day I think. A good way to help cement the emotional attachment to the park with the kids.

I still see mine every year in my childhood back yard when I visit my parents.

In the early 1950s, the state of Ohio investigated Lake Erie shore erosion. Their findings were published in 1953 - "1951 Investigations of Lake Erie Shore Erosion." The report includes detailed information on the Cedar Point peninsula - see page 13 of the booklet (page 20 of the PDF). If you're a geography or geology nerd, it's an interesting read.

https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/geology/RI18_Pincus_1953.pdf

Ok we just bought the big book at the park last night. My teen son was talking about buying it with his own money last visit but I told him to wait because this is the kind of thing your nerd parents will probably buy themselves anyway and we did. He opened it in the car on the way home and page three deals with the geography of the peninsula and answers the Cedar tree question. The last of the original Cedar trees was in that line of trees by the beach that were taken out when Soak City was turned into Cedar Point Shores. Kind of ironic changing the name to Cedar as you take out the last Cedar Trees... Supposedly they were examined by tree people and found to be dead/dying so they were not saved. According to the book new Cedar trees have been planted on the Hotel Breakers landscaping so that there are still Cedars on Cedar Point. I guess I have a new mission this summer to find them.

The original road is also addressed it was there for opening season 1913 and destroyed by the storm in 1919 and then moved 2 miles west to the current position. There is a picture of the historical marker for the road which I now feel the need to find. Apparently it was one of the first concrete roads in Ohio. Back in the 1800s there were a few islands near Sandusky that disappeared because they were basically sand bars with vegetation and for some time people were reluctant to put any permanent structures on the peninsula because people thought it was also on a sand bar and would eventually meet the same fate. When geographical studies were done and it was found to be on bedrock not sand people realized it wasn't going anywhere. The area of the Chausee that always floods has always been an area that floods and Native Americans would use it as a convenient spot to cross with their canoes.

The Cedar Point gate historical marker is actually quite cool, I found it a couple years back it is the entrance parking area for the wetlands preserve. Per the historical marker the wrought iron gates that are there now are original and they rebuilt a brick structure to place them about as close as they could to the original position.

Paisley, Twisted Circuits is correct about the location of that Historical Marker. I f you come westbound on Rt.6 from Rye Beach it is just past the Sawmill Creek property. It is a Erie Metroparks area named Sheldon Marsh. It is a nice area that leads to a sandy beach area that my son and I have walked in the dead of frozen Sandusky winter (take that, Jeff) all the way to that Condo complex on Cedar Point Rd. Excellent area for bird watching/spotting.

The walking trail is really nice too. I highly recommend it to anyone to stop and check it out. There's an old building at the very end fenced off, which I believe is/was owned by NASA.

What was that building for? I can't find anything online about it?

The building is a water pump station that has underground pipe stretching all the way south to the NASA Plumb Brook facility, which prior to being the NASA property was an ammunitions plant that was a major employer back in it's time. That neighborhood off the west side of Columbus Ave. just south of Perkins Ave. was housing for many of the plant employees.

I never even thought to ask what that facility was for! I always thought it had a bizarre layout from satellite imagery thank you!