The Heineman’s Winery and Crystal Cave were two very interesting attractions at this stop of the Tour Train trip, and Anne-Marie and I spent an hour touring the winery and cave, after we visited the Antique Cars across the street.
Anne-Marie and I got in line for the cave tour and then the winery tour followed. The cave is a giant geode and the crystals are strontium sulfate, a blueish mineral called celestite, and are from 8 to 18 inches long. About 20 of us tourists were inside of this giant thunder egg and we were instructed to not touch any of the crystals. As I was writing this, I looked up the history of the cave, and in the early years the cave was much smaller, and the crystals were harvested for use with fireworks, enlarging it to its present size.
The steps down were in one of the front buildings of the Winery, and the crystals looked like they should be cold, or at least cool. Anne-Marie in her tie-dyed shirt leading me out of the cave past a bald head scuffing low spot.
As soon as our group got topside, we started on the winery operations tour. We gathered in a room that had older equipment displayed, but if it weren’t for the signs explaining what they were used for, all were clean enough to be put back in service. Our guide explaining the roll of this huge filter in the operation of making grape juice and wine.
The bottling and labeling room had very sanitary equipment on display. This is a labeling machine behind plexiglass doors. A display of the wines that this winery bottles, and our guide described the grapes and the method how each was manufactured.
The interior of the Heineman Winery Tasting Room. I was taken in by the antique metal ceiling tiles, and rounded corner pieces. A wide picture of the front of the winery, and all of the rental golf carts in the parking lot.
Our Tour Train arrives. We had a rental golf cart on Kelleys Island, and it worked well for us, but there wasn’t a tour bus, or anyone to provide narration as we wandered about the island. The narration during tours is appreciated by both of us, but the flexibility of stopping and looking longer is removed. Small fields of grapes were scattered about this end of the island, our guide said that the vines are old and not structured for a mechanical harvester, and all are gathered by hand.
Put-In-Bays original School House, 1855. Put-In-Bays Catholic Church, completed 1883.
The tour Train ends back in town, and we drove by the local brewpub.
We had a full day of touring the island, and we saw a lot of historical places, and as I write this, I’m finding many places that we have missed, and now we have a good reason to return.
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