KELLEY'S ISLAND, one of a group of islands at the w. end of lake Erie, a township of Erie co., Ohio. The group is noted for producing the best grapes for wine grown in the United States e. of the Rocky mountains. The southerly side of the island is only 3 in. from the mainland and 12 in. from Sandusky. Area about 3,000 acres; pon. 80, 8S8. First surveyed as island No. 0; afterwards known as Cunningham's island; in 1840, by act of the Ohio legislature, it was made the township of Kelley's Island, having been purchased by the brothers Datus and Irad Kelley in 1833-34. The surface is generally flat. from 6 to 80 ft. above the level of the lake. Devonian. limestone forms the basis of the soil and is generally quite near the surface. The island was originally heavily timbered, mostly with deciduous trees, with a fringe of fine red cedars upon its shores. Nearly all the former have long since been sold in cord wood to the steamboats of the lakes, which exhausted the supply between 1840 mid 16G0; now the inhabitants import their fuel. The red cedar was speedily exhausted by its use fur posts, and few of the trees, which ouce formed a picturesque border for the ishmd, are left.
The leading industry is grape-growing and wine-making. The first vines were planted in 184_2; the first wine made in 1850. The superior quality of the grapes and wine soon attracted attention. Nearly 1000 acres are now in vineyards, three-fourths of which are of the Catawba grape, and the remainder Concord, Delaware, Inez, Vir ginia, Norton's seedling, and experimental varieties: average product per acre, 14- tons. The value of grapes and wines exported amounts to $150,000 to $200,000 per annum. Between 1860 and 1870 the small vine-growers built wine cellars of limited capacity, for toe construction of which the fissures or caves in the limestone offered good sites, These, previous to 1871, were of capacity ranging from 5,000 to 80,000 gallons each.
During that year the Kelley's Island wine company enlarged their cellars to the storage capacity of 400,000 gallons, with steam-engine for elevating, grinding, and pressing ti'e grapes. The capital of the company in 1880 is $200,000. Price of vineyard-laud, $600 per acre.
The limestone of the island is exported largely for making quick-lime, rubber work, and block-stone for building, and flues for furnaces; its easy quarrying and nearness to the docks giving it a market in all the cities on the shores of the lakes. About 200,000 tons are shipped annually.
During the summer of 1880 there were 390 entrances and clearances of vessels, besides three daily steamboat arrivals and departures. In summer the island has a daily mail, and telegraphic connection via Sandusky. It has good schools, 4 churches, and 2 hotels.
Aboriginal antiquities of peculiar interest were discovered in 1834 by Charles Olm stead of Connecticut. These consist of mounds and earthworks, some of which inclose from 3 to 5 acres, in which abounded broken pottery, pipes, hatchets, arrow heads, etc. But more important are the sculptured rocks on the n. side of the island, where the hieroglyphics on the surfaces of rocks are of so marked a character that gen. M. C. Meigs called the attention of the government to them. They were made the subject of a special report by col. Eastman in 1851, with accompanying drawings. One, known as inscription rock, is engraved and described in Schoolcraft's Indian Atiquities. He says of it: " It is by far the most extensive and well sculptured and best preserved inscription of the antiquarian period ever found in America."