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Lake Erie's secret: Pelee Island
The southernmost inhabited bit of Canada is Pelee Island, a 36-square mile island in Lake Erie just 90 minutes from Sandusky, Ohio by ferry. To its south is an even more southerly uninhabited Canadian island, Middle Island, which was a safe haven for rumrunners during Prohibition, but Pelee is Canada's southernmost community.
Pelee is very quiet and (how shall I put this?) truly out of sync with the urgencies of contemporary life. For the first two days of my stay on Pelee I tried to find a pocket of wireless Internet access. I was unsuccessful. "We're working on it," said a clerk at the police station. "You can use my computer," the owner of Connerlee Bakery offered. "Nowhere on the island," said the guy at the register at Pelee Island Winery. "This is your vacation! Relax! You're as bad as my husband," said the proprietor of Comfortech Bike Rentals. Her husband, it turned out, is Pelee's mayor.
We were on Pelee to celebrate a belated birthday and to chill out. Both goals were accomplished. We rented two adjoining houses at the north end of the island and spent our time biking, swimming, and eating. We had all our meals at home save a few bakery runs and our final night's dinner, which saw us sampling Anchor & Wheel Inn's C$16.95 all-you-can-eat fish fry.
On balance, Pelee is a very affordable place to vacation. Our house rental ran about C$160 per person for the week. Beyond housing, bike rentals (C$20 per day), and the final night's dinner (about C$20 per person) there were no costs beyond market and bakery runs.
Actually, that's not quite true. There is a fabulous Heritage Centre on the island, and we spent a few dollars (adult admission C$3) to check it out. Opened in 1988 by founder Ron Tiessen, it contains well-curated exhibits on various aspects of Pelee's cultural and physical history. The Heritage Centre has helped pioneer organic farming on the island and also operates an annual event in early May called Springsong, which celebrates birds and birding and typically features a banquet with Margaret Atwood, a long-term part-time resident of the island. Ron is a Pelee expert, and talkative to boot, and the Heritage Centre functions as a tourist information center as well as a museum.
What is there to do on Pelee? In springtime there's Springsong (see above.) During the summer, there is above all biking to be done. Pelee is a flat island, perfect for biking. It's good, then, that there's a bike shop right by the main ferry pier. Bikes at Comfortech Bike Rentals begin at a rather steep C$20 per day. In addition, visitors hike, swim, fish, take photographs of the island's churches, visit Pelee Art Works, and sample island wines at the Pelee Island Winery. Pheasant hunting season in October and November closes out the season.
There is some great local produce to sample as well. Plenty of local producers sell the fruits of their labors at little roadside stands, and there is also a Saturday farmer's market. Pelee feels on the ground and looks from the air like a set of farms plopped down into Lake Erie.
Pelee is charming, of course, but what sets it apart from dozens of other North American islands full of rental cottages is its sense of being apart from the rest of the world, its lack of resorts, and the fact that it has so few traditional tourist amusements. It feels like a little secret, tucked away for residents and the few people who make the trek. That it barely markets itself surely has something to do with the impressions it sustains.
There's a giddiness in extreme communities, places on the edge of nations or continents, and Pelee is no exception. Visitors hike stealthily through Fish Point Nature Reserve to walk to the very tip of Canada's southernmost inhabited island. A secret of sorts, Pelee shows no sign of morphing into something unrecognizable or overdeveloped anytime soon.
Pelee Island ferry information can be found here.
There is some great local produce to sample as well. Plenty of local producers sell the fruits of their labors at little roadside stands, and there is also a Saturday farmer's market. Pelee feels on the ground and looks from the air like a set of farms plopped down into Lake Erie.
Pelee is charming, of course, but what sets it apart from dozens of other North American islands full of rental cottages is its sense of being apart from the rest of the world, its lack of resorts, and the fact that it has so few traditional tourist amusements. It feels like a little secret, tucked away for residents and the few people who make the trek. That it barely markets itself surely has something to do with the impressions it sustains.
There's a giddiness in extreme communities, places on the edge of nations or continents, and Pelee is no exception. Visitors hike stealthily through Fish Point Nature Reserve to walk to the very tip of Canada's southernmost inhabited island. A secret of sorts, Pelee shows no sign of morphing into something unrecognizable or overdeveloped anytime soon.
Pelee Island ferry information can be found here.
Filed under: North America, Canada
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cornelius Aesop Sep 1st 2010 10:44AM
I should check this out I am not too far from there. I have ventured off to Put-N-Bay often but never any other islands in Lake Erie. Although the lake seems to be doing bad with e-coli and algae .... maybe I'll wait a bit till the water cleans up.
BTDT Sep 5th 2010 2:08AM
Point one; Pelee is no secret. Point two; it aint cheap.
Catherine Sep 1st 2010 1:37PM
Pelee Island bewitched me! I'm glad you liked it, too.
Alex Robertson Textor Sep 1st 2010 6:19PM
Thanks for the comments. Yes, Randall, I'd definitely return. Next time I'd snag a lakeside cottage, though, preferably one with a hammock. I agree, Catherine—Pelee is a gently bewitching place.
Violet Sep 2nd 2010 10:06AM
Pelee is the only place I've been that makes me feel like a kid on summer break. There's literally nothing to do and you get to make your own fun. Go for a bike ride. Jump in the lake. Hike through the woods. Watch the wildlife. Play Frisbee with a friend. Spend time with those you care about. It's a true vacation from having to "do". Pelee is mindset. There's something magical about The Island.
(I spent 5 days on Pelee in July. I was in the lake every day with many friends and none of us got sick. While I've heard the bacteria levels are high I don't think they're spread evenly throughout the lake. I think Pelee is far enough away from a major population center to avoid that.)
Ali Sep 2nd 2010 10:59AM
Went there Aug. 21, 22 and 23. This was my third time there and I will go back again and again. Like Violet said you feel like a kid on summer break. You really feel like you are "away" even though it is not that far away for me. I hope it never changes and gets commercialized. As their ad used to say, it is "Pelee Island.calm.
Carrie Sep 6th 2010 8:26PM
I loved Pelee Island! I went there a couple of times as a child and again as a teen. I had hoped to get there this summer, but maybe next. Two of my great-uncles were some of the original homesteaders, so going there was like a family reunion! I'm really looking forward to taking my daughter and my Mom up there soon!
Dick Sep 4th 2010 4:24PM
It is indeed absolutely beautiful...NOW! But in the winter it is bare, bleak, and COLD!
arklight99 Sep 4th 2010 4:25PM
Don't bother to go back. After the great descriptive article, and the unstinted praise of the place, next week Pelee Island will be wall to wall carpetbaggers. Once a truly righteous place gets 'discovered', it's finished. I refer you to 'Last Resort', sung by the Eagles. Here in Nevada one good 'day trip' or 'mini-vaction' article and whatever, wherever, the place was, in a month it's destroyed. Thanks a lot.
Phred Sep 4th 2010 4:33PM
Why is it a secret? I knew it was there over 20 years ago when I went on a fishing trip on Lake Erie.
mark Sep 4th 2010 4:43PM
Erie not Eerie
ned Sep 4th 2010 6:10PM
Pelee Island sounds a bit like Washington Island off the tip of Door County in Wisconsin. Door County is the "finger shaped" portion of Wisconsin that sticks out into Lake Michigan northeast of Green Bay. If you've never been there and like "out of the way" places, Washington Island may be for you. You have to take a ferry to get there - about a 30-40 minute ride - with your car. It's a delightful treasure - like Pelee Island.
omraee entertainment LLC. Sep 4th 2010 7:00PM
how does wireless signal go "around a island"
Lana Sep 4th 2010 6:38PM
I went to Pelee Island as a kid for day trips on our boat out of East Harbor - over 50 years ago. Doesn't sound like it has changed much. In the 50's and 60's we went there for the cheap liquor and beer. About all they had then was a general store that sold Scottish skirts and winter sweaters. There was also a small restaurant. And yes we had water problems back then also. Remember one time water skiing back to East Harbor and the green algae coated the water. But, we didn't know any different back then--there was no EPA, etc. Glad to hear it hasn't changed much since then.
chippershoney Sep 6th 2010 6:00PM
We, my family, used to take the boat over to Pelee Island also when I was a teenager. It was a great place to visit and we didn't like leaving...it was so beautiful and so peaceful. We used to walk to the area where the glaciers had cut grooves into the rocks. We ate at a restaurant/tavern there...I remember the wonderful fried mushrooms they served!!!
Though I don't leave in Ohio anymore, my memories of Pelee Island, Put-In-Bay, Middle Bass Island are unforgettable!
ConfusedByWhatiSee Sep 4th 2010 7:21PM
I have a sincere question - I'm not trashing anything that's idyllic and quiet - I'm just confused. I went on Google Earth because I wasn't familiar with Pelee. Aside from what looks like a small harbor in the northeast quadrant and a couple of very small wooded areas on the southern end of the island, it looks like it's entirely cultivated farm fields. Even if you're looking to do nothing, where do you do it? How long does it take to ride a bike from top to bottom?
merreprankster Sep 4th 2010 7:33PM
Isn't it great to see everyone saying nice things about a place? The Lake Erie Islands are wonderful and when I lived in Ohio I used to go to the Lonz' Winery for many, many years on Middle Bass Island. Perry's Monument and Put-in-Bay are on South Bass Island. Next trip back to Ohio I will go to Pelee. Canada is beautiful. And Canadians, when not in a competitive Olympic spirit, are great friends and perfect neighbors.
Buckeye Sep 4th 2010 8:08PM
Do I need passports to take my kids to Pelee Island? We would be arriving from Ohio.
chippershoney Sep 10th 2010 9:23PM
No, you don't need a passport.
Jaloney Sep 5th 2010 1:53AM
If you wanted this place to stay special why write on it and get it front and center on AOL. Now, it won't stay the same!