Cedar Point's The Hermitage

Cedar Point is always a popular topic on this blog. In fact, one of the posts on the amusement park is the most visited since I started the blog in 2009.

And since it's Cedar Point's off-season now, here's an off-season story about an old house that was located on the park grounds. It's gone now. The story ran in The Journal on November 30, 1969.

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Cedar Point's The Hermitage Now Is History

HISTORY OF CEDAR POINT was recalled this week as
The Hermitage, a 16-room house where many of the Funway's
operators lived, was torn down.

The Hermitage, 65-year-old two-story frame dwelling that housed much of Cedar Point's history in its 16 spacious rooms, fell before the wreckers' onslaught this week.

THE KNOLL on which the gloomy grayhouse stood, flanked on one side by Sandusky Bay and on the other by Cedar Point lagoons, will be the new site of a gaily-colored station for the Cedar Point & Lake Erie railroad, being moved to make room for an 800-ft. extension of the main Funway.

What used to be the dismal backyard of the Hermitage will become part of the gaiety of the Funway new rides and attractions.

According to Sandusky historian Charles E. Frohman, the house was completed in 1905 and for a time housed a crew of men who policed the Lake Erie recreation center during the winter.

With no transportation available and no roads to use anyway, the small band of hardy souls claimed they hibernated like hermits during the winter. They dubbed their house, naturally, The Hermitage.

Gus Boeckling, brother of early Cedar Point impresario G. A. Boeckling, lived at The Hermitage for many years as head "hermit."

The demolition is in progress

Daniel M. Schneider, one-time operator of Cedar Point, who lived in the house for eight of the nine years he ran the resort. Schneider and his wife now live on Bank Street in Milan.

Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Starr, now of 2201 Cedar Point Roadway. Starr, former rides manager of the resort, lived at The Hermitage in 1950.

George A. Roose, president of Cedar Point, inc. Roose and his wife occupied part of the huge house from 1959 through 1963.

A 24-room employes' dormitory that had been added to the original house was torn down in 1958.

In 1965, The Hermitage was home for about two dozen young men who worked at the Silver Dollar restaurant on the main Funway.

In its final years, The Hermitage was home to Mr. and Mrs. William Hackett, who operate the huge Cedar Point laundry. Mrs. Hackett has worked at Cedar Point for 42 years.

Less than an hour after the Hacketts moved out of The Hermitage, the wreckers moved in.