The North Pier Head Light

The black and white lighthouse on the north pier of the channel to Presque Isle Bay has guided mariners since 1858. Its cast iron was forged in France and it replaced a wooden beacon destroyed by a schooner in an 1857 storm. No other surviving U.S. lighthouse shares its design. A fixed red beam was used until 1995, when the 4th order Fresnel Lens was removed and a red flashing light was installed by the United States Coast Guard, which still operates the beacon. Its keepers were William T. Downs, Benjamin Fleming, John Hess, Leonard Vaughan, George W. Bone, Richard P. Burke, Frank Henry, James Johnson, C.E. McDannell, Charles D. Coyle, Robert Hunter, and Thomas Wilkins.

Erie, Pennsylvania · United States