Experience the best of Erie

Erie sits on a sheltered bay of Lake Erie, where the harbour built much of the fleet that won the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. The brig Niagara, a reconstruction of one of Oliver Hazard Perry's ships, is berthed at the waterfront beside the maritime museum, and the bayfront walks and lighthouses give the city its lakeside feel.

Presque Isle State Park, a curving sand peninsula that shelters the bay, has beaches, marshes, walking trails and a lighthouse, and migrating birds rest there in spring and autumn. In the city, the Erie Art Museum occupies an old customs house, and east along the shore the narrow lake plain around North East is planted with Concord grapes.

Lake Erie perch and walleye turn up at fish fries around town, and the grape country east of the city supplies juice, jelly and wine. Snow comes off the lake in heavy falls through winter, while summer sends the whole city to the beaches of Presque Isle.