Erie is located in the tiny stub of Pennsylvania which borders Lake Erie. The first non-native settlers here were the French, who found a long forested peninsula of land extending into Lake Erie which sheltered a good sized harbor from the rough waves of the Lake. There was an opening at the east end of the peninsula (since dredged and enlarged) enabling easy access to a safe harbor. The French named the peninsula Presque Isle, meaning 'almost an island.' The entire peninsula is now a public park with over a million visitors a year and it still protects the Erie waterfront with sandy beaches on the Lake Erie side. You can see the lake in the thin strip of blue on the other side of the trees across the bay.
The tower was erected at the foot of State Street to mark the US Bicentennial in 1976.
Usually at this time of the year the entire bay is frozen with thick ice, but not this year. The night before I shot this sunrise video was calm and the temperature was below freezing, putting a thin skim of ice on the bay, with some breaks occurring as the wind picked up a bit. The area east of the tower had birds walking on the ice.
