Presque Isle Light

{{For|the lighthouses in Michigan|Presque Isle Harbor Breakwater Light|Old Presque Isle Light|New Presque Isle Light}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox lighthouse | image = File:Presque Isle Light (July 2021).png | location = Presque Isle State Park Erie, Pennsylvania United States | coordinates = {{coord|42|9|56.8|N|80|6|55.5|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | automated = 1962 | marking = Solid white | shape = Square | construction = Brick | height = {{convert|58|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} | focalheight = {{Convert|63|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} | lens = 4th-order Fresnel | range = {{convert|15|nmi|mi km|abbr=on|0}} | characteristic = {{Abbr|Iso|Isophase}} {{Abbr|W|White}} {{Abbr|6s|6 seconds}} | heritage = Listed on the NRHP | module = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = nrhp | designation1_date = August 4, 1983 | designation1_partof = [https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/00c8b6b0-cd2c-458c-807c-30f7ba0917eb United States Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes Thematic Resource] | designation1_number = 83002242<ref name="nara">{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891092 |title=Pennsylvania MPS Presque Isle Lighthouse |work=National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records |id=NAID 28891092 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=August 8, 2025}}</ref> }}}}

The '''Presque Isle Light''', historically nicknamed the '''"Flash Light"''', is a lighthouse on the shore of Lake Erie in U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is one of three lighthouses in Erie, along with the Erie Land Light and the North Pier Light. The lighthouse is situated on the northern shoreline of Presque Isle State Park overlooking the beach.

The lighthouse became active on July 12, 1873 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

== Design == The Presque Isle Light is {{Convert|68|ft|m|0}} tall with a focal height of {{Convert|63|ft|m|0}}.{{Sfn|Light List|p=37}} Originally, the tower was only {{Convert|40|ft|m|0}} tall before it was raised to its current height. It has a light characteristic consisting of a 6-second, white isophase light (3 seconds on, 3 seconds off) that is visible up to {{Convert|15|nmi|mi km|0}} from the lighthouse.{{Sfn|Light List|pp=xxix, 37}} Up until August 2013, a backup, emergency light was mounted below the main beacon that would flash every 10 seconds at a "reduced intensity" if the main beacon was non-operational.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Local Notice to Mariners; District: 9, Week: 34/13 |date=Aug 21, 2013 |publisher=United States Coast Guard, United States Department of Homeland Security |page=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=United States Coast Guard |author2=United States Department of Homeland Security |title=Light List: Great Lakes |volume=VII |year=2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509133724/http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lightLists/LightList%20V7.pdf |archive-date=May 9, 2013 |url=http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lightLists/LightList%20V7.pdf |id=COMDTPUB P16502.7 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |access-date=Jan 10, 2015 |page=40}}</ref> Around the same time as the removal of the emergency light, the main beacon was replaced with a six-tier, light-emitting diode, Vega marine beacon.

The lighthouse tower is attached a four-bedroom residence used by the lighthouse keeper.<ref name="first">{{Cite map |last=Adams |first=W. H |last2=Evans |first2=J. B |map=First Floor Plan |year=1962 |title=Presque Isle Lighthouse, Peninsula Drive, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania |series=Historic American Buildings Survey |publisher=Library of Congress |id=PA-454 |type=Drawing |scale=1/4 inch = 1 foot |url=http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa0454.sheet.00001a/ |accessdate=Aug 17, 2014}}</ref><ref name="second">{{Cite map |last=Adams |first=W. H |last2=Evans |first2=J. B |map=Second Floor Plan |year=1962 |title=Presque Isle Lighthouse, Peninsula Drive, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania |series=Historic American Buildings Survey |publisher=Library of Congress |id=PA-454 |type=Drawing |scale=1/4 inch = 1 foot |url=http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa0454.sheet.00002a/ |accessdate=Aug 17, 2014}}</ref> The whale oil and, eventually, kerosene necessary to keep the lighthouse illuminated for the entire night was stored in the room at the base of the stairs leading to the lantern room. For safety reasons, the rest of the fuel was stored in a shed located elsewhere on the property. After it was electrified, the oil room became the storage room for the batteries powering the light.

== History == In 1789, the United States Congress authorized the federal government to construct and maintain lighthouses and other navigational aids on the nation's waterways, as well as established the predecessor to the United States Lighthouse Service.<ref>Act of August 7, 1789, ch. 9, 1 ''Stat''. 2–3.</ref> The first two U.S. lighthouses on the Great Lakes were completed in 1818—one in Buffalo, New York and the Erie Land Light at the entrance to Presque Isle Bay.<ref>Act of May 1, 1810, ch. 47, 2 ''Stat''. 611–612.</ref> Ownership of the Presque Isle peninsula that formed the bay was transferred from a sailors' hospital to the federal government on May 17, 1871 "for the purposes of national defense and the protection of the harbor of Erie".{{Sfn|Reed|1925|p=201}} By that time, the continuously shifting sands of Presque Isle had caused the peninsula to migrate and had begun to obscure mariners' views of the Land Light.{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=19}} Congress quickly appropriated $15,000 for the construction of a new "{{Sic|light-|house}} on the north side of Presque Isle" on June 10, 1872.<ref>Act of June 10, 1872, ch. 415, 17 ''Stat''. 355.</ref>

=== Construction === thumb|The Presque Isle Light in 1885, before the tower height was increased Construction on the lighthouse was delayed until September 2, 1872 after the Lighthouse Board solicited bids and initially received none.{{Sfn|Richardson|1873|p=655}} Part of the problem lie in the relative isolation of Presque Isle, which would prove notoriously difficult to deliver building materials. No roads connected it to the mainland and, at times in its history, the peninsula would become an island.{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=20}} Originally, barges could be offloaded at the closest point to the lighthouse from Lake Erie. After one foundered in a storm and lost 6,000 bricks, the only recourse was to land on the bay-side and carry everything {{Convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} to the lighthouse site.{{Sfn|Richardson|1873|p=655}} The masonry of both of lighthouse tower and keeper's residence were completed by November 1873. Work was halted for the winter on December 2 and did not resume until April 16, 1873.{{Sfn|Richardson|1873|p=655}} The Presque Isle Light was completed on July 1, 1873.

Once finished, a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed in the tower, and it went into operation on July 12—Charles Waldo, the Presque Isle Light's first keeper, noted in the log for that day: "This is a new light station and the light will be exhibited for the first time tonight. There was one visitor."{{sfn|Brandon|1997|p=23}} The lighthouse originally produced a fixed, white light which flashed red every 60 seconds.{{Sfn|Richardson|1873|p=655}} In 1882, it was given a new set of lens and its characteristic was changed to an alternating red and white flash every 10 seconds.{{sfn|Lighthouse Board|1882|p=6}} This signal pattern led the lighthouse to becoming nicknamed the "Flash Light" by Erie residents.{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=22}} Because the trees surrounding the lighthouse required annual trimming to keep the light visible, the decision was made in 1896 to increase the tower's height by {{Convert|17|ft|4|in|m|1}}.{{sfn|Lighthouse Board|1896|p=146}}{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=27}} It took one month—from August 19 to September 18, 1896—for bricklayers to extend to the tower.{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=27}}

=== Electrification and automation === A single, 150-watt, incandescent light bulb illuminated the lighthouse beacon; it was visible up to {{Convert|18|mi|km|0}} after it was magnified by its Fresnel lens to 120,000 candlepower.{{Sfn|Sullivan|1946|p=18}} In 1962, the lighthouse's Fresnel lens was removed and replaced with a modern marine beacon.{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=63}} At that time, the characteristic was changed to its current isophase light.

The Presque Isle Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 4, 1983, as part of a group listing of lighthouses and light stations operated by the United States Coast Guard on the Great Lakes.{{Sfn|Hyde|1979|loc=sec. 7, p. 2}} The lighthouse was one of 17 declared government surplus by the Coast Guard in January 1997, and ownership of the Presque Isle Light was taken over by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gardner |first=Julie |date=Jan 27, 1997 |title=Coast Guard to unload Presque Isle Lighthouse |newspaper=Erie Times-News}}</ref>

=== Restoration === On July 25, 2014, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources transferred the Presque Isle Light, in a 35-year lease to a nonprofit organization charged with restoring and operating the lighthouse as a museum.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Lt. Gov. joins DCNR to announce long-term agreement for public/private partnership for lighthouse at Presque Isle State Park |date=Aug 6, 2014 |newspaper=Resource |publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |url=http://www.apps.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/resource/res2014/14-0806-presqueislesp.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107131932/http://www.apps.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/resource/res2014/14-0806-presqueislesp.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 7, 2015 |access-date=Mar 1, 2017}}</ref> The lighthouse was reopened to the public for tours in the summer of 2015.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Operate effectively and efficiently |date=Jan 1, 2016 |journal=Resource |publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |url=http://www.apps.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/resource/res2016/16-0106-effective.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113131615/http://www.apps.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/resource/res2016/16-0106-effective.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 13, 2016 |access-date=Mar 1, 2017}}</ref> Renovations will see the 1989-additions, as well as most of the modern amenities, removed to return the lighthouse to its appearance in the late-1800s and early-1900s. The lighthouse is depicted on an optional "special organization" Pennsylvania license plate benefiting the Presque Isle Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Approved Special Organizations |publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Transportation |url=http://www.dmv.pa.gov/VEHICLE-SERVICES/Registration%20Plates/Pages/Approved-Organizations.aspx |access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref>

== Keepers and residents == {| style="float:right; font-size:10px; border:1px solid darkgray;" |- ! colspan="2" style="font-size:12px" | Lightkeepers |- | Charles T. Waldo | 1872–1880 |- | Orren J. McAllister | 1880 |- | George E. Town | 1880–1883 |- | Clark McCole | 1883–1886 |- | Lewis Vanatta | 1886–1891 |- | Louis Walrose | 1891–1892 |- | Thomas L. Wilkins | 1892–1901 |- | Andrew Shaw | 1901–1927 |- | Frank Huntington | 1927–1944 |} When the Presque Isle Light opened, its first keepers were paid $520 per year, and were entitled to use the "snug" residence attached to the lighthouse.{{Sfn|Bates|Brown|Russell|Weakley|1884|p=282}}

From 1974 to 1986, the Coast Guard used the Presque Isle Light as supplemental housing and assigned it to personnel and their families. As it was fully automated, guardsmen housed at the light were only required to inspect the beacon during "unusual electrical storms."{{Sfn|Freeman|1986|p=52}} After its last residents vacated the lighthouse in June 1986 and, rather than constantly repair it, the Coast Guard chose to close the keeper's residence.{{Sfn|Brandon|1997|p=110}} The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources opted to house state park officials in the lighthouse until 2014.

== References == {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Sources == {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last1=Bates |first1=Samuel P |author-link=Samuel Penniman Bates |last5=Whitman |first5=Benjamin |last3=Russell |first3=N. W |last2=Brown |first2=R. C |last4=Weakley |first4=F. E |title=History of Erie County, Pennsylvania |publisher=Warner and Beers |location=Chicago |year=1884 }} * {{Cite book |last=Brandon |first=Loretta A |title=Lightkeeper's Legacy: A Personal History of Presque Isle |year=1997 |publisher=Erie County Historical Society |location=Erie, Pennsylvania |isbn=1-883658-34-9 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Freeman |first=Sabina Shields |title=The Presque Isle Lighthouse |date=October 1986 |journal=Pennsylvania Magazine |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=49–52 |issn=0744-4230}} * {{Cite web |last=Hyde |first=Charles K |title=United States Coast Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes |work=National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form |date=October 15, 1979 |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/00c8b6b0-cd2c-458c-807c-30f7ba0917eb |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=August 8, 2025 }} * {{Cite web |title=Presque Isle Light |date=March 1, 2002 |work=Maritime Heritage Program |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/maritime/light/presque.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901221649/http://www.cr.nps.gov/maritime/light/presque.htm |archive-date=September 1, 2013 }} * {{Cite book |last=Reed |first=John Elmer |title=History of Erie County, Pennsylvania |year=1925 |publisher=Historical Publishing Co |location=Topeka, Kansas |volume=1 }} * {{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=William A |author-link=William Adams Richardson |title=Annual Report on the State of the Finances to the Forty-Third Congress, First Session, December 1, 1873 |year=1873 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC }} * {{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Harold |title=Presque Isle Lighthouse Keepers Always on the Job |date=Mar 23, 1946 |newspaper=Erie Daily Times |pages=5, 18 }} * {{Cite book |author=United States Lighthouse Board |author-link=United States Lighthouse Board |title=Annual Report of the Light-House Board to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1882 |year=1882 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |ref={{SfnRef|Lighthouse Board|1882}}}} * {{Cite book |author=United States Lighthouse Board |title=Annual Report of the Light-House Board to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1896 |year=1896 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |ref={{SfnRef|Lighthouse Board|1896}}}} * {{Cite book |author=United States Coast Guard |author2=United States Department of Homeland Security |author2-link=United States Department of Homeland Security |title=Light List: Great Lakes |volume=VII |year=2024 |url=https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lightLists/LightList_V7_2024.pdf |id=COMDTPUB P16502.7 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |access-date=August 8, 2025 |ref={{SfnRef|Light List}} }} {{Refend}}

==Further reading== * {{Cite news |last=Massing |first=Dana |title=Future looks bright for Presque Isle Lighthouse |date=July 25, 2014 |newspaper=Erie Times-News |pages=1A, 4A}} * {{cite book |last=Oleszewski |first=Wes |title=Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory / Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses |location=Gwinn, MI |publisher=Avery Color Studios |year=1998 |isbn=0-932212-98-0}} * {{cite book |last=Wright |first=Larry |author2=Patricia Wright |title=Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia |location=Erin, ON |publisher=Boston Mills Press |year=2006 |isbn=1-55046-399-3}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Presque Isle Light (Pennsylvania)}} * {{Official website|http://presqueislelighthouse.org}} * {{HABS |survey=PA-454 |id=pa0454 |title=Presque Isle Lighthouse |dwgs=6}} * [http://wlol.arlhs.com/lighthouse/USA666.html Presque Isle (Lake Erie) Light] (Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society)

{{Lighthouses of Pennsylvania}} {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania}} {{authority control}}

Category:1873 establishments in Pennsylvania Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Category:Lighthouses completed in 1873 Category:Lighthouse museums in the United States Category:Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Category:Lighthouses of Lake Erie Category:Museums in Erie County, Pennsylvania Category:Museums established in 2015 Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Erie County, Pennsylvania Category:Tourist attractions in Erie County, Pennsylvania Category:Towers completed in 1873