Vermilion Guide

Vermilion, Ohio, in the United States, lies on the south shore of Lake Erie in Erie and Lorain counties. Its motto is “A Small Town on a Great Lake”, and the local nonprofit Friends of Harbor Town promotes its maritime roots under the slogan “Harbor Town 1837”.

Main Street has specialty shops, restaurants, art galleries and well-maintained captain's homes. Brummer's Homemade Chocolates is on Main Street, and near the lighthouse you also find The Artseen Gallery, Burning River Boutique and West River Paddling.

Main Street Beach is a public Lake Erie beach and small waterfront park with swimming, picnic tables, accessible facilities, an observation deck and public restrooms. A small replica lighthouse stands on the beach and marks the mouth of the river where it meets the lake. Inside is a 5th order Fresnel lens lit by a 200-watt bulb, and a live webcam streams lake views and sunsets from the beach.

The town has over 12 parks and facilities. The Vermilion River Reservation has the Bacon Woods and Mill Hollow areas on each side of the river, and the Mill Hollow-Bacon Woods Memorial Park is listed as a top attraction where a number of bird species can be spotted among the shale cliffs. The harbor offers sandy beaches, recreational boating, jet skis, canoeing and sailboats.

The Vermilion History Museum on Grand St illustrates 19th- and 20th-century letterpress printing and newspaper publishing in a building that was a print shop and weekly newspaper from 1905 to 1964. The News Print Shop Museum has two Linotype machines and four letter presses, plus an upstairs apartment with local artifacts and photographs.

The river itself shapes the town: it enters Lake Erie right here, and the marinas sit on it. A short distance before the lake it passes through a deep gorge, and the rest area on the westbound side of Route 2 has a short nature trail to an overview of the gorge. The river is commonly muddy after rains.