Castalia Blue Hole photograph   Save
Ohio Guide Photographs
Description: Dated ca. 1940-1949, this photograph shows the Blue Hole in Castalia, Ohio, a large spring fed by an underground river, about 43-45 feet deep. The Castalia Blue Hole was a major tourist attraction from the 1920s up to its closure, especially due to its close proximity to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. It maintains a water temperature of 48 degrees year round. The blue hole shown in this photograph closed access to the public in 1990, but a new blue hole is open to the public at the Castalia State Fish Hatchery. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F08_001
Subjects: Castalia Blue Hole (Ohio); Geography and Natural Resources; Springs; Tourism--Ohio; Geology
Places: Castalia (Ohio); Erie County (Ohio)