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Erie Harbor North Pier Lighthouse

42.1561° N, 80.0711° W · Pennsylvania · built 1858[1]

  • Grounds open
  • Last verified 2026-10

Fl R 2.5s · 42 ft[1]
As listed in the USCG Light List, Vol. VII, weekly edition of September 30, 2026

Erie Harbor North Pier Lighthouse
Niagara, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Toned for this site.

A short square tower banded black and white, the North Pier Light stands at the end of the pier guarding the narrow channel into Presque Isle Bay. Its iron frame was made in France and assembled in Erie in 1858, and the lighthouse has been moved three times as the pier grew.

History

A light has marked the entrance to Erie's harbour channel since 1830, when a wooden tower was built on the pier a little west of the present site. Keepers tended its whale-oil lamps from cottages nearby.[2,3] During a gale in 1857 a schooner trying to make the channel smashed into the tower and destroyed it; the Lighthouse Directory dates the collision to 1855. Until a replacement was ready, a lantern was hung from a gallows-like frame.[2,4]

The new light of 1858 was built of wrought iron and metal forged in France and put together on site. At first only the lens and watch room at the top were enclosed, with an open frame below; it showed a fixed white light from a sixth-order Fresnel lens.[2] The lower part was closed in during the 1890s and the steel plating seen today was added in 1940.[4] Each time the pier was extended, the lighthouse went with it, in 1882 or 1883, in 1891 and in 1940.[4,2] The Lighthouse Directory says no other surviving U.S. lighthouse shares its design.[4]

The Coast Guard automated the light in 1995, replacing a fixed red beam with a flashing one, and the fourth-order Fresnel lens then in use went to the Erie Maritime Museum.[3,4] The September 2026 Light List shows a red flash every 2.5 seconds from 42 feet above the water, on a square tower with black and white bands.[1]

When the lighthouse was offered to preservation groups in 2023, Lake Erie Lights of Pennsylvania applied. In June 2025 the group received a no-cost lease while ownership passed to the Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the pier.[4] Visitors can walk out on the pier, but the tower itself stays closed.[5]

How to see it

Grounds open You can walk to or around the lighthouse; the tower itself is closed.

Best public viewpoint
The North Pier at the eastern end of Presque Isle State Park, near Coast Guard Station Erie; the pier can be walked, but the tower is closed.[2]
Tower climbs
No public tower climbs have been offered, as far as our sources show.
Operator
U.S. Coast Guard (light); Lake Erie Lights of Pennsylvania (site)
Last verified
Last verified 2026-10

Access details last verified 2026-10. Hours, tours and ownership change. Check the operator before you go. Pier and breakwater lights can be dangerous in wind and waves; obey posted closures and never enter private or Coast Guard property.

Questions people ask

Can you walk to the Erie North Pier Light?

Yes. The pier at the eastern end of Presque Isle State Park can be walked, but the tower is closed. Stay off the pier in high wind and waves.

Is the North Pier Light still working?

Yes. The September 2026 USCG Light List shows Fl R 2.5s at a focal height of 42 feet.

Where is the North Pier Light's old lens?

The fourth-order Fresnel lens removed in 1995 went to the Erie Maritime Museum.

Nearby lighthouses

Nearby shipwrecks

Nearby · Sponsored

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Sources

  1. Light List Volume 7 (Great Lakes District), weekly edition of 09/30/2026, U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center. Accessed .
  2. North Pier Light | Lake Erie Lights, presqueislelighthouse.org. Accessed .
  3. Erie Harbor North Pier Light, Wikipedia. Accessed .
  4. Lighthouses of the U.S.: Northwestern Pennsylvania, Russ Rowlett, The Lighthouse Directory (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Accessed .
  5. Presque isle Light Station | Lake Erie Lights, presqueislelighthouse.org. Accessed .
  6. United States Coast Pilot 6, Chapter 6: Lake Erie, NOAA Office of Coast Survey. Accessed .

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