erie maritime museum

candit2015

We attended a fundraising event "Ales for Sails," A beer tasting event with breweries from Erie and other areas. We had a great time.

222glennb

I love maritime museums and when I visited this one it got my heart going.When we were planning our visit I didn't think that the brig Niagria would be open for tours in the middle of winter. But it was, the cover the ship to protect it in the winter but still allows people to tour the ship.In the warm months they offer sailings on the ship.The museum offers great displays and great interpretation of history. This is an attraction not to miss!

Jonmun

This is a unexpectedly good museum of nautical history with emphasis on War of 1812. The Flagship Niagara is wonderful historically accurate and working copy. GREAT PLACE TO TAKE KIDS. Too many kids and adults are frankly ingnorant of American history. This is a nice introduction

lonniellogan

Most informative and interesting guide. Visited the ship Niagra and toured below decks. Unfortunately, I'm 6'2" and belowdecks headroom is 5'.

asorig

Main floor is kid-friendly: LOTS to read, hear, and do. 2nd floor is text-heavy (great for history buffs, but small kids may not enjoy). Helpful, friendly volunteers. Clean bathrooms & the food area are on the right when you first enter the building. The Gift Shop / Museum Entrance is on the left.Displays include: -The history of the building the museum is stored in-War of 1812 overview -the history on the slogan "Don't Give Up The Ship!"-USS Niagara: tour the ship, learn knots & rigging, watch videos, study maps, see the short documentary explaining how they went about testing what canon-damage can do - the wall replica is on display-history of USS Wolverine, along with her iron hull and crew artifacts-history of Erie and some fine residents who've served our nation-navigational aids... and so much more

TravelingDrZ

This is a kid / family friendly place. It has not just maritime history but also important military and local history. The tour of the Niagra was wonderful. Ask for "Pat". He's an "old salt" full of history and great stories. We will be back!

DebbieSails

The Erie Maritime Museum is really cool and well put together with all their maritime artifacts. They always seem to find something new to add each year. You get to learn about the War of 1812 and the maritime history on Lake Erie and they even have special programs and events for kids to get them interested in sailing and history. The Erie Maritime Museum owns a beautiful square-rigged tall ship "Brig Niagara" that sails on the Great Lakes from her home port in Erie PA. The Brig Niagara makes stops at other ports on the Great Lakes during the summer sailing season. You can do a deck tour or can sail on the "Brig Niagara" as a day sail student and help with some of the sail work. The sail work on this tall ship is impressive! Erie Maritime Museum also has a very nice gift shop. Erie Maritime Museum is within walking distance from the Bicentennial Tower and restaurants like Smugglers' Warf. It is also about a 15 min drive from the very beautiful Presque Isle State Park. It is well worth a drive to Erie PA to check out the Erie Maritime Museum and surrounding attractions!

KailuaGal

My husband, two teenagers, and I visited the Erie Maritime Museum in August. After setting my son up in his college dorm, we had a day to spend in Erie before departing for home. We took a little road trip and decided to visit the Erie Maritime Museum. The displays are nicely put together and learning about Erie's rich maritime history was enlightening. The staff was also very friendly and answered any questions we had. You could easily spend 2 - 3 hours reading all the history, but I would recommend a visit even if you only have an hour. It's a really nice museum.

kroyn

If you like history go and enjoy, You will get to see a shortmovie on a historic battle of Lake Erie 1812. Then a guidewill take you on a tour of the actual full size replica of the USSShip Niagara. Also after th e tour you will spend a lot of timeinside looking at all the historic items from that time period.

DennisLiegey

What a great History lesson of Lake Erie and maritime folklore. Great display of Ship history.The museum has easy access and plenty to see in the surrounding area on the lake.This is good for family's with children a little older .

tinky1242013

This was an excellent adventure of exploration. We toured the museum and, at the end, we went abroad the US Brig Niagara. Our tour guide was informative and the ship has a lot of history tied to the War of 1812. I even took home a small souvenir of the ship to place on my shelf. It is definitely worth the stop!

BillL498

Full size replica of the Niagara , which defeated the Brits. Great guides and of historical significance in the War of 1812

Robyn8003

We decided to take in the views of this museum and tour the USS Niagara since is was too cold to do anything else. I was shocked to find out that it cost $10.00 per person to get in. The cashier told us that there would be a guide to take us out to the USS Niagara in about 20 minutes so we walked around and took in the sites. After taking in the whole museum in about 20 minutes we waited for almost an hour an no guide. We went back out to the cashier and was told that there were no more tours for the day! I asked for a partial refund, and was given half my money back and was told to come back the next day for a tour of the ship. We were leaving, so no tour could be done. So disappointing!

779philips

I visited on a cool overcast Wednesday in July. The Niagara was in port and so tours were operating. The wait was short - ten or fifteen minutes. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and had just the right 'old salt' personality. The ship gives a nice glimpse of what it might have been like to be on a war ship from that era (early 1800s). The ship is right outside the museum, but the walk up the gang plank (?) and down a ladder to the lower deck require good mobility. The museum is in an old manufacturing facility that is impressive in its own right. The historical displays are interesting and well done. Good gift shop. Refreshments available in building. Definitely should be on any short list of stops on a visit to Erie.

102JOE102

Visited the museum to escape the cold July conditions. There were several people available to guide and/or answer questions. I especially found the section of ships hull that had been subjected to live cannon fire very interesting. The Niagara wasn't in port so we didn't get to tour her.