Perry's iconic battle flag, displayed proudly at the top of the Memorial. Ironically, he took it with him when he abandoned his crippled flagship to continue the fight aboard the brig Niagara.

South Bass Island, like all the major islands in western Lake Erie, was populated by various Native American tribes throughout pre-history. The source of the name Put-in-Bay is a subject of some conjecture, but the commonly accepted theory is that an early map of the island referred to it as “Pudding Bay” because the harbor appeared, at least to the mapmaker, to be shaped like a pudding sack.

Although the British and Americans had fought on land for control of Lake Erie during the American Revolution, the strategic importance of Put-in-Bay wasn’t realized until both countries got around to placing naval forces on the lake during the War of 1812. In the late summer of 1813, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry built a fleet of warships in the sheltered waters of Presque Isle, off of modern day Erie Pennsylvania, and sailed them to Put-in-Bay. The British army controlled the frontier region from the formidable Fort Detroit, but they could only be supplied by ships crossing the lake. From the sheltered harbor at Put-in-Bay, Perry was in a perfect position to intercept those supply ships and starve out the British. With little choice, the British sailed their own lake squadron to the waters off South Bass Island to engage Perry’s force. What ensued was one of the most evenly matched naval battles in history.

Both fleets were approximately the same size and composition and, although the British cannon were effective at longer range, the American guns fired heavier shot. Perry’s ships suffered heavy damage as they sailed through the British shells and Perry’s flag ship, the Lawrence, was quickly reduced to a useless wreck. Perry abandoned the Lawrence and rowed a half mile, under heavy fire, to the Niagara, which had not yet engaged. Once in command of the Niagara, Perry closed with the center of the British battle line and the heavier American guns eventually beat their enemy into surrender. When the smoke cleared, there were many dead and wounded and both fleets were badly crippled, but the Americans had won the day. That evening, Perry composed a note to his commander which forever immortalized the phrase “We have met the enemy and they are ours”.

The battle forced the British and their Indian allies to abandon their strongholds in Michigan and permanently retreat into the Canadian territories. In a single afternoon, the Great Lakes were secured for the United States and over a century of intermittent warfare throughout the region was finally brought to an end.

After the war, South Bass Island was converted to peacefully growing grapes and grazing livestock. Around the 1860s, the idyllic little waterfront town began to gain popularity as a choice vacation spot for the growing and increasingly prosperous Midwest population, with transportation being provided by a small fleet of steam-powered ferry boats. In 1892, the island opened what, at the time, was one of the largest hotels in the world, featuring 625 guest rooms and a 1000-seat dining room. Sadly, the hotel burned down in 1919 and, except for the Perry Memorial, nothing so grand has been constructed there since.

Today, Put-in-Bay operates on an almost pure tourist economy. During the summer months, tens of thousands of people can be on the island at any one time, but only about 200 hardy souls live there year-round. To give an idea of what island life is like during the winter, the town’s only bank flies employees in to staff the branch for the one day a week in which it’s open.