Mouse Island, Ohio
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Mouse Island is a seven acre
private island A private island is a disconnected body of land wholly owned by a private citizen or corporation. Although this exclusivity gives the owner substantial control over the property, private islands remain under the jurisdiction of national and som ...
located in
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...
off the northern tip of Catawba Point in
Ottawa County, Ohio Ottawa County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,364. Its county seat is Port Clinton. The county is named either for the Ottawa (Odawa) Indigenous peoples w ...
, United States, near the city of Sandusky (). It was formerly named "Ship Island", as denoted on early-19th-Century maps (and in some late-18th-Century documents). It was later named Mouse Island for its small size. It is part of Catawba Island Township. The island was once owned by the American president
Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. He was a staunch Abolitionism in the Un ...
. The Hayes family built two small cabins, a hand ferry to the shore, a tennis court and supplied the island with running water. In the 1930s the island fell into disuse and all amenities were destroyed by fire or neglect. The Hayes family owned the property until 1966 as none of the former president's grandchildren remained in the area. Remains of the structures can still be found on the island today – including the native stone chimneys of the summer cabins as well as part of the foundation. The Island is privately owned and is not open for public visitation. The island was owned by the Mercer family of Rocky River, Ohio, from 1966 to 2024. A limestone reef between the island and shoreline presents a safety hazard for watercraft that draw more than 3 feet.


References

Islands of Ottawa County, Ohio Islands of Lake Erie in Ohio Private islands of Ohio Private islands of the Great Lakes {{OttawaCountyOH-geo-stub