The Erie Harbor North Pier Light, also known as the Presque Isle North Pier Light, is one of the three

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark ...

near

Erie Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The light, situated at the far eastern end of

Presque Isle State Park Presque Isle State Park ( ) is a List of Pennsylvania state parks, Pennsylvania State Park on an arching, sandy peninsula jutting into Lake Erie, west of the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, Erie, in Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...

, helps mariners as they traverse the narrow inlet between

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

and

Presque Isle Bay Presque Isle Bay is a natural bay located off the coast of Erie, Pennsylvania. Its embayment is about in length, about across at its widest point, and an average depth of about . The bay is at an elevation of 571 ft (174 m) above sea le ...

. Originally constructed as a wooden tower in 1830, that light was swept away by a

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

in 1857. The current structure was

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

in France and assembled on site in Erie. It was moved in 1882 and again in 1940. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

, which operates the beacon, changed its fixed red beam to an automated red flashing light in 1995, at which time the 4th order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

was sent to the

Erie Maritime Museum Erie Maritime Museum is a maritime museum located on Presque Isle Bay which rests on the waterfront in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania. It is managed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission ( PHMC). When it opened its doors on May 21, ...

. In 2021, the lighthouse was featured on a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

as part of the Mid-Atlantic Lighthouse series done by the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

. The image of the light on the stamp was one of the last works done by artist Howard Koslow. Erie harbor light.jpg, Light on a pre-1930 postcard

References

Further reading