Uneek Cargo Shop is a totally uneek gift shop,
 from the rafters to the floor!
Uneekly different from others is what we strive for!

The selection changes often,
We don't carry "A-LINE"~~
We're Uneek Cargo,
We change all the time!

We Do Unique Right!

~Specialties~

Gifts from across the USA!

Feather Roses

Rustic Furniture

Historical Kelleys Island Photographs

NEW FOR 2007~
Yester-Year Toy Corner




 

Island History -
Charles Carpenter was born at Norwich, Connecticut in 1810. The son of a West India merchant, he had the benefit of a liberal education and, around 1830, engaged in the manufacture of cords and twine. For health reasons he went to live in the south. Soon after his return the mill burned, and at the suggestion of his distant cousin, George Huntington, he came to Kelleys Island in 1843. He quickly made himself useful by helping John Dean build a house for Datus Kelley (later the Island House). He married Caro­line Kelley, daughter of Datus, in 1844, and acquired the 123 acre farm of Horace Kelley the same year. The couple lived in one of two log houses on the property.

His interest in horticulture led him to set out the island's first commercial vineyard in l846, and by 1854 he constructed the first winery north of Cincinnati. The commercial success of this ven­ture inspired similar efforts by other islanders and established a trend that would focus the island's development for the next half-century. In 1859, he constructed the large cellar that was later rented by the Kelley Island Wine Co. By 1866, the year that the K.I. Wine Company took over the operation of his large cellar, Mr. Carpenter had retired from the wine business, and was devoting his time to his vineyards and orchards. 

Through his prominence as a horticulturist, Mr. Carpenter was asked by the Grape Growers Association to represent their interests in the Ohio Legisla­ture. He also assisted Mr. F.R. Elliot in organizing the fruit and floral department of the first Ohio State Fair at Cincinnati. Mr. Carpenter's en­ergy was not limited to horticultural efforts. His deep interest in artifi­cial propagation of fish was prominent in inducing the state to experiment in White fish propagation. Thus, when the state decided to establish four experimental White fish hatcheries in 1875, one was constructed at Kelleys Island on Charles Carpenter's property. 

Carpenter also operated one of the early quarries on the island. It was located north of his house where he eventually built his second wine cellar where the Kelley Island Wine Company ruins now stand. Around 1860 he had several large contracts for U.S. Government piers in Cleveland and else­where. His quarry also produced lime, and the building stone for his residence and wine cellars. His quarry workers lived in a log house, pre­sumably the one built by Horace Kelley for his farm workers, and located west of Carpenter's stone house, mentioned by Huntington in his Historic Sketches. Mr. Carpenter retired from the stone business in 1863.

Source: "The National Register Inventory for Kelley Island" by Kevin and Betty Pape