PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — People don’t think of boats when they hear the name Ford or think of islands when they hear of Ohio or think of a steel freighter when they think of a summer home, but the Benson Ford Shiphouse in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, breaks all the rules.
“It is the one thing that people stand there and watch, you know, like, I mean, everybody wants to walk through this ship,” Paul Jeris said when talking about the home at 1191 Ashburn Ave. owned by his friend Bryan Kasper.
Most commonly the Shiphouse can be seen by people taking the Jet Express around the west side of South Bass Island, where the home appears as the front of a cargo ship perched on a rocky ledge.
“It's the front 60 feet of a 600-foot freighter that the Ford family used to own and use for their transportation of raw materials around the Great Lakes,” Mr. Kasper said introducing the 100-year-old ship. Built in 1924, the ship was one of the first diesel engine freighters, hauling iron ore until it was retired in 1981 and given the new name John Dykstra II.
After different attempts to repurpose the freighter, the then owner, Frank J. Sullivan of Sullivan Marine in Cleveland, cut off the front end of the boat, shipped it from Cleveland to South Bass Island in 1986, and tried, unsuccessfully, to turn it into a bed and breakfast.
In 1999, Mr. Kasper bought the Shiphouse and began the gradual work of fixing up the steel freighter.
“All the carpets were green or orange or yellow, and some of the ceilings were falling down,” he said. “It's kind of been the love of my life to refurbish all that you'll see.”
Mr. Kasper can’t help showing off the early 20th century ship in all its steel glory and shared how Put-in-Bay started leading tours through the grounded forecastle of the ship, now his summer home.
“So my friend Paul Jeris said, ‘Hey Bryan, would you at all be interested in doing tours of your home?” Mr. Kasper said.
Mr. Jeris is also a member of the Put-in-Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa County Visitors Bureau.
“My involvement is, Bryan is a very generous guy,” Mr. Jeris said, and explained Mr. Kasper has given all the money from the tours to fund the Put-in-Bay community. “He volunteered that it all has to go to the island.”
More than $10,000 has gone to the Put-in-Bay sign, $10,000 went to bringing the Ohio State Marching Band to the island, and six live stream cameras were installed with the money from the tours.
The next tours of the Shiphouse are scheduled 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 18. Tickets cost $40 and can be purchased through putinbay.com/tour/ .
“I mean, the history of the ship is amazing,” Mr. Jeris said, adding that the tours are self guided, with he and Mr. Kasper on hand for questions.
The ship itself
Standing in front of the freighter fills visitors with the desire to explore the house — and to simultaneously learn how it works as a building.
“I finished off this lower level, put a pool table in there, dining area, put a bar and a kitchen in and a little sitting area and laundry room,” Mr. Kasper said. “The second, third, and fourth floors are still original.”
Plumbing and electricity was run to the Shiphouse by the previous owner. The tip of the ship seems precariously floating off the rock where the ship is placed, but Mr. Kasper assured “It’s anchored on bedrock, the majority of the boat, and then it’s tied in with a bunch of cement pillars and steel columns, so it’s not going anywhere.”
Entering on the ground floor, visitors may forget they’re in a ship, as it feels similar to a renovated basement. This first floor was changed the most from ship to home, but Mr. Kasper offered a glimpse of how the first floor looked before he made adaptations.
A door that could have been mistaken for a closet opens up into a high-ceilinged crosswork of steel beams with foam stuck between them. But heading just upstairs to the second floor leads back in time to a luxurious 1920s America.
“On the second floor, there's two staterooms, one on the starboard side, one on the port side,” Mr. Kasper said.
“That would have been for Ford executives, or the rumors are that Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, people like that have all traveled on this boat,” he said. “It’s all black walnut paneled. There’s serving call buttons near the doors and stuff.
“It’s a very ornate floor.”
Wooden stairs lead to an open common space on the third floor, a private study room, and two smaller bedrooms for crew staff.
“You can see where the wood turns from black walnut to white oak,” Mr. Kasper said. “On that floor, the black walnut would have been for Henry Ford and his guests, and then the white oak would be for the business side.”
One more set of stairs takes visitors to the wheel at the helm of the ship, where the view off the top of the ship gives the illusion of setting sail. “When you’re looking at the water, even though you’re on solid ground, you feel like you’re out on the water,” Mr. Kasper said.
Likewise the port and starboard sides of the ship have retained their slight tilts to help water run off the ship. The less-than-level floors mimic the feeling of being under way.
Altogether the ship is 7,000 square feet of steel that Mr. Kasper uses as a weekend novelty home in the summers for his family and friends and for private parties. Distinctively proud of the property, Mr. Kasper, launched Shiphouse Vodka, from one of his many companies, Noble Cut Distillery.
He proudly shows off his property and the work he put into it.
“I love when people see it, you know I put a lot of time and energy into this place, and it is very, very cool,” Mr. Kasper said.
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