The first new Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission museum in twenty years, Erie Maritime Museum opened its doors May 21, 1998. As homeport of U.S. Brig Niagara, the Erie Maritime Museum presents the story of Niagara as the reconstructed flagship of Pennsylvania and the warship that won the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.  Offering a wide range of multi-media and interactive exhibits and coupled with lively interpretive programs, Erie Maritime Museum vividly illustrates  Niagara's history and the region's rich maritime heritage.

When in homeport, the ship herself is the major "exhibit". Berthed within yards of the museum, Niagara is visible from the building's bay side picture window. Inside, the centerpiece exhibits of the museum are a former steam-powered electricity generating station and a reconstruction of the mid-ship section of the Lawrence. The replicated Lawrence, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's first flagship during the Battle of Lake Erie, comes complete with mast, spars and rigging to foster hands-on learning in the ways of sail handling.

Another powerful display is the adjoining section of the Lawrence replica that has been blasted with live ammunition from the current Niagara's own carronades at the National Guard training facility in Fort Indiantown Gap, near Harrisburg. This unprecedented "live fire" exhibit of the Lawrence recreates the horrific carnage inflicted upon both ships and men during the Battle of Lake Erie and throughout the Age of Fighting Sail. Other exhibits tell the stories of the USS Wolverine (previously the USS Michigan), the nation's first iron-hulled warship, the environmental transformation of the Great Lakes ecosystem and much more.

Copyright © 2007 US Brig Niagara and Erie Maritime Museum
Last modified: 12/07/07