by William Krause
30663 Lake Road, c. 1830
The fifth in a series of articles to be published as a walking tour of Lake Road by the Bay Village Historical Society in 2025.
It was in 1816 that Aaron and Elizabeth Aldrich and a son moved from Rhode Island to Dover to live near Elizabeth’s brother Henry Winsor. In 1822, they moved to New York for Aaron to take charge of a cotton factory.
In seven years, Aaron earned enough money to move back to Dover and purchase a 140-acre farm, extending from Lake Erie south to what is now Wolf Road, and build this very fine frame house (in 1830).
Built as a double house it has a two-story west wing with a Federal style fan window in the attic and a single-story east wing. It eventually passed down to George Drake, their grandson.
Henry Winsor’s 1785 desk which he had brought to Dover in 1813, was in this house, crammed with papers that became the foundation of the first written history of Bay Village, “Bay Village: A Way of Life.” Today, that desk is part of the Rose Hill Museum collection.
The Aldrich house is very well preserved inside and out and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.