Lake Erie Lighthouse Trail

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Ohio is the home to over 20 of Lake Erie's beautiful lighthouses, keeper’s homes, and maritime museums. Some of these lighthouses date back to the early 18th century. Lake Erie, only one of the five Great Lakes that span the border between the US and Canada is the shallowest of the lakes but covers 9,910 square miles, making it the 11th-largest lake in the world by surface area.  

For centuries, these lighthouses have guided sailors along some of the oldest, shallowest treacherous, and most unpredictable shores of the Great Lakes - the shores of Lake Erie. Lighthouse enthusiasts can follow the 293-mile Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail, stretching from Ashtabula to Toledo.   

The most popular and probably the most photographed of the Ohio lighthouses is Marblehead Lighthouse. Once known as the Sandusky Bay Light, Marblehead Lighthouse sits at the Sandusky Bay entrance to Lake Erie. The lighthouse was renamed Marblehead after the town. The lighthouse opened in 1822, and is the oldest continually operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes.   

Each year the lighthouse is a popular tourist destination, with visitors browsing through the exhibits of the lighthouses history in the Keeper’s House, taking guided tours, climbing up the tower’s spiral staircase, taking pictures from the tower balcony, and picnicking on the grounds