Erie: PA's Lighthouse City

When I think about lighthouses, the first thing that generally comes to mind is the abrupt and rocky seashores of Maine, with a plethora of spectacular lighthouses up and down the Atlantic Coast. Pennsylvania is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking about navigational lighthouses. Erie has three of them that were officially built for navigation. All three are in the Presque Isle Peninsula and Bay area, and they are beautiful. Lake Erie has been known for its intense storms, so navigational aids in the way of lighthouses are crucial, especially when it comes to the Presque Isle Peninsula, jutting out into the lake.

Erie Land Light

The Erie Land Lighthouse was the first lighthouse to shine on the great lakes. The original incarnation of this tower was built in 1818. It was expanded in 1856, though the soil was unstable and it was rebuilt in 1867. The 1867 tower is the one that remains today. It remained in service until 1880. It was recommissioned five years later after a large public outcry, and then was permanently shut in 1899. This structure has somehow stood the test of time, spending the last 117+ years out of official service, and standing in various states of limbo. For the bulk of the twentieth century, it stood without its lantern, having been shipped to the Marblehead Light in Ohio. A wooden replica was placed on top in 1990, though a storm in 2003 ripped that off of the top. Thanks to grants by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the light now stands in its original glory. The lighthouse's grounds are home to a nice little park, with playgrounds and picnic areas. It is a great place for a quiet afternoon picnic or to just get away for a little bit. The tower is nearly 49 feet tall.

Erie Harbor North Pier Light

The view from the Erie Land Light gives us a look at the next lighthouse we will be checking out, the Harbor North Light, which marks the juncture of Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay.

The first incarnation of the Harbor North Light came about in 1830, simply consisting of a 50 foot wooden tower on a concrete pad, with a foghorn and whistle. The 34 foot tall structure known and loved today was prefabricated in France in 1858 and replaced the original tower, which had been destroyed by a schooner during a heavy storm. For navigational purposes, this light served as a warning for navigators to notice the large Erie Land Lighthouse that is located on a bluff within a close proximity of this light. Unlike the Erie Land Lighthouse, this light has remained in constant operation by the US Coast Guard. In 1995, the last Fresnel lens was removed and sent for preservation to the Erie Maritime Museum, where it is still on display, and replaced with an automated blinking red light. 

While the other lighthouses see a great number of visitors, the Harbor North Light always seems to be extremely popular. It is located on a popular fishing pier. There are always at least a dozen or so fisherman in this spot, with usually at least one person at any given time catching a relatively large fish. 

Since it also marks where Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie meet, you always see boats sailing through the area. You may even catch a glimpse of the Brig. Niagara sailing by as Commodore Perry did more than two centuries ago.

Presque Isle Lighthouse

The Presque Isle Light is a beautiful building that marks the furthest coastline of the Presque Isle Peninsula. This light is frequently open for tours and it, along with the beach in front of it, are excellent places to take in the sunset.

The lighthouse was built in 1873. The tower itself is forty feet tall, but with the lightroom on top that was added in 1896, the height comes out to 57 feet.

Bonus stop! Waterworks Lighthouse

Our last stop leads us to the location of the old Erie waterworks on the bay side of Presque Isle Peninsula. While this is not a real lighthouse, it was built in 1906 to look like one. This housed the gears for the waterworks pump. The waterworks was a huge deal when it was first completed, since it was an engineering solution to a huge problem with water quality in the city's water system, for environmental controls were not in place to prevent disease outbreaks and more within city drinking systems. This specific structure has attracted the affection of visitors to the peninsula since it was built. While it is not an actual lighthouse, it is a neat thing to see.

The waterworks area is filled with a pristine forest area that always impresses me. I cannot help but stop for a minute in this spot and listen to the breeze blow through the leaves of the trees. 

Erie's lighthouses are beautiful and well worth checking out. 

Spencer House Bed & Breakfast, Erie, PA

Erie County is a great place for a getaway. From miles of sandy beaches along Lake Erie, to vineyards and fantastic wineries through Chautauqua County, NY, Erie has a myriad of awesome things to do. Spencer House Bed and Breakfast is centrally located to everything in the region. The mansion was built in 1876 as a wedding gift from local bank magnate, Judah Colt Spencer, to his son, William Spencer. The house was occupied by multiple generations of the Spencer family with it being rented out over the years, and passed along to different owners. The mansion was eventually opened as a bed and breakfast in 1992, and since 2012, it has since been meticulously restored. This 135 year old Victorian mansion is incredible. 

The stately Spencer House has stood in downtown Erie for more than 140 years. It is located right down the street from Presque Isle State Park, Waldameer & Water World, the city's museums, Gannon University, and more.

The rooms, common areas, and decor are inviting and relaxing.

The rooms are extremely cozy. Just looking at these photos is making me want to go back!

Elegant woodwork is around every corner in this mansion.

The dining area is inviting and an excellent space to feast upon the delectable breakfast meals they create.

The first course is a plate of fresh fruit.

And we were offered a little bit of everything on both days of our stay. Strawberry French Toast, homemade sausage, scrambled eggs, and southwest potatoes got us all fueled up on our first day of adventures in Erie. 

Local ham, caramel banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, and potatoes rounded out our meal on the second day of our stay.

If you are looking to hang out at the Spencer House outside of your room, there is a beautiful covered porch out front, and lots of cozy common areas throughout the place, perfect for lounging and sipping some local wine or kicking back with a great book.

The Spencer House Bed and Breakfast is excellent in every way and it feels like a home away from home. We highly recommend staying here and experiencing everything that the Erie region has to offer.

For more information on staying at the hotel, be sure to visit their website at http://www.spencerhousebandb.com

The Spencer House Bed and Breakfast  and Visit Erie hosted us and we have shared our candid thoughts and opinions about this place.

Mt. Pisgah Altar: Stone Altar Atop a Mountain, Snyder County

Certainly one of the more unusual things that I have run into is the Mt. Pisgah Altar in Snyder County. It is a stone altar perched atop Shade Mountain. The only other time I have ever run into something like this was at a wedding atop a mountain in California's Yosemite National Park. On a clear day, you can see for miles. On the day that I visited, the altar was up in the clouds, making it feel as if I was up in the heavens. It is certainly a beautiful and beloved place. 

The drive up to the altar is beautiful, leading you through valleys filled with farmland. The altar is located up in those mountains.

The site was built by Robert Cryan of Beaver Springs in 1979. He built it with the intention of having Easter Sunday services at the site. Since then, many weddings, and more have occurred at this beautiful site. A long stone road leads to the altar at the top of the mountain.

For those who like to seek out random things, like I do, this is certainly a place you would like to check out. It is a good place to take in a view, pray, and contemplate.

GPS Coordinates: 40.699043, -77.235597

Sheard's Mill Covered Bridge and Mill, Bucks County

Shear's Mill Covered Bridge is in one of the nicest settings I have seen of any covered bridge within the state. Additionally, it is also in excellent condition. It crosses the Tohickon Creek in Bucks County, on the border of East Rockhill and Nockamixon Townships, just upstream from scenic Lake Nockamixon and Nockamixon State Park. It is 130 feet long, one of the longest within Bucks County and in the eastern part of the state. It dates back to 1879 and is in pristine condition. It is a prime example of a 19th century commercial village, with a covered bridge and an adjacent mill still intact. 

The surrounding landscape is beautiful as well. Large boulders fill the Tohickon Creek in this area. 

This bridge is in excellent condition, and it utilizes the town truss method of construction.

Aside from its pristine condition and beautiful surrounding landscape, the intact mill adjacent to it makes this a fine example of the old farming villages of that era in Bucks County. This area has so many intact remnants like this, and I cannot help but be impressed every time I see them.

The mill itself was built by Levi Sheard, starting in 1825. This beautiful property is used as a campground. For those of you who love to camp, the Tohickon Campground is beautiful and within a short distance of Nockamixon State Park, an excellent place for all sorts of outdoor recreation and sightseeing.

All in all, this is a beautiful covered bridge that is well worth checking out.

Coordinates: 

40.454639, -75.278063

One of the World's Oldest Organisms: Hoverter & Sholl Box Huckleberry

It is likely not every day that you get to see one of the oldest organisms on the planet. In a forest that seems to otherwise be no different than the many other beautifully wooded areas of central Pennsylvania, one of the world's oldest living organisms owns the forest floor. The Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry is one of the neatest things that I have stumbled upon in the state's forests. This plot of land is over 9 acres and the forest floor. This obscure colony and species is named Gaylussacia brachycera, and very few of these colonies remain. 

This particular colony has been estimated to be anywhere from 1000 to 1400 years old. Another nearby colony in Losh Run is estimated to be as old as 10,000 years old, and once spread over a mile, but was largely knocked out when Route 322 was expanded in the 1960s. This species is believed to be a relict of the last ice age. Colony age is estimated by the average rate of root growth in a year of only a few inches, it is easy see how long it would take a colony to grow to be a quarter mile in size. 

The trail at the Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area loops around this box huckleberry colony, with mild elevation change over a quarter mile. It is the smallest area that the state has classified as a natural area, but it protects an absolute treasure.

The growth rate of the colony places age estimates at around 1000 years old.

The forest floor is dominated by the box huckleberry, which provides an awesome color contrast with the forest floor. 

It is important to stick to the specified trail, for this species is threatened, with only a small number of them remaining. This is also one of the oldest organisms on the entire planet. In the spring and summer the box huckleberry flowers, and the colony bears fruit in late summer. 

This forest area is well worth going out of your way to visit. While the box huckleberry is only a few inches off of the ground, its seemingly endless spread across the forest floor is awesome to see.

GPS Coordinates:

40.403941, -77.174757

Rockville Bridge: World's Longest Stone Masonry Arch Rail Bridge

As someone into railroading, almost anything along a rail line sparks my interest to check out. I have always appreciated railroading, largely stemming from my parents taking me to the incredible Strasburg Railroad near Lancaster, and Steamtown in Scranton. As someone who has traveled through Harrisburg for my entire life, I have always been captivated looking out at the Rockville Bridge. This tremendous bridge crosses the Susquehanna River between Rockville, Dauphin County, and Marysville in Perry County, just north of Harrisburg. We highly recommend spending the night at the Bridgeview Bed and Breakfast, which gives a tremendous view of the bridge. 

The wide and extremely shallow nature of the Susquehanna makes this river stand out from the rest of the state's rivers, with most of the major rivers tending to be thinner and deeper. The Rockville Bridge, the Reading Railroad Bridge, and the Cumberland Railroad Bridge, in addition to the amazing street bridges across the Susquehanna River in this region, have an absurdly large amount of arches/piers. If you stand at the bottom and the end of any of these bridges, they are so large that they almost look as if they are endless. The immensity and unique nature of these bridges make all these sites awesome sights to behold, especially for people who love to see incredible engineering, bridges, and railroads. If you do not have interest in those things, you just may end up doing so after seeing this bridge.

The Rockville Bridge is the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world. The bridge has forty-eight spans that are seventy feet long. The bridge is 3,820 feet long. It was built by the famed Pennsylvania Railroad Company and was integral to helping the allies win in World War I and World War II. The bridge was heavily guarded during these wars, especially after the Pennsylvania Railroad's Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, was nearly the target of a potential sabotage effort by Nazi spies. The bridge had  trains on it almost 24-7 through the entire war effort, and even today, the bridge is very heavily used by Norfolk Southern and Amtrak trains. For anyone who loves watching trains, this place is an absolute joy to check out.

This visit was particularly special, for the eastbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian train was just passing through after having originated in Pittsburgh and traveled through the station towns of Greensburg, Latrobe, Johnstown, Altoona, Tyrone, Huntingdon, and Lewistown. The bridge is just a few miles from the Harrisburg station, where the train will then journey to other towns, including Lancaster and Philadelphia, en route to its final destination in New York City.

As I stated earlier in the article, the immense Rockville Bridge is awesome to check out, especially for rail fans, though I believe that it is impossible to not be impressed with it. 

The Fort Hunter Mansion and Park has the clearest publicly accessible views of the bridge, in addition to nice picnic areas, and a center of history from the Revolutionary War times, with other awesome things, including the Everhart Covered Bridge, which dates back to 1881. Very nice place.