Hop on a huge ferry boat, and after a 20-minute ride through the choppy Lake Erie waters, you’ll arrive at the idyllic Kelleys Island, about 4 miles north of Marblehead, Ohio, and the largest American island on the lake. The island is home to about 140 year-round residents, though the population swells to well over 400 residents and 5,000 tourists during the busy summer months.
Clusters of apples begin to decorate trees in Dennis Thatcher’s orchard throughout each spring and early summer, promising the reward of sweet fruit and jugs of freshly pressed cider in the fall.
Thatcher and his wife, Angela, who reside in rural western Logan County and who are members of Logan County Electric Cooperative, established Thatcher Farm in 1972, when he planted a few apple trees. Today, the farm has more than 420 trees that produce 25 varieties.
What is it that attracts us to lighthouses? Could it be their immovable stability in an ever-changing world? Mute guides to somehow show us the way, much as they do for wayward sailors?
Whatever the reason, people have been visiting the Marblehead Lighthouse on Lake Erie at the mouth of Sandusky Bay for nearly two centuries, ever since its construction in 1821. It’s the oldest lighthouse in continuous service anywhere on the Great Lakes.
Not-for-profit electric cooperatives have a responsibility not only to fulfill the needs of their consumer-members, but to help their neighbors in need. To that end, Operation Round Up was born.
Operation Round Up is a voluntary program in which more than 200 electric cooperatives across the country participate, including most Ohio electric cooperatives. The programs go by different names, but they all operate under the same premise: Small change makes a big impact in communities all across Ohio.
