The west basin features the Wolverine Park Marina. It is named after the USS Michigan / USS Wolverine, the Navy’s first iron-hulled warship. Designed by Samuel Hart, the ship was built in pieces in Pittsburgh in 1842 and shipped overland to Erie for assembly. It was commissioned September 29, 1844. With 88 officers and crew, the USS Michigan patrolled the Great Lakes suppressing illegal activity such as timber pirating and protecting the maritime border with Canada. During the Civil War, the ship guarded Johnson’s Island where Confederate prisoners were held. In 1905, USS Michigan was renamed the USS Wolverine, and it was decommissioned just seven years later. The vessel was loaned from the Pennsylvania Naval Militia to the City of Erie as a relic and intentionally run aground in Misery Bay on Presque Isle State Park in 1927. After fundraising efforts to restore the historic ship failed, the USS Wolverine was sold for scrap in 1949. Her prow – the largest piece salvaged from the scrap yard – was once exhibited here. It is now exhibited in the neighboring Erie Maritime Museum.
From the marina, you will continue on the tour using the Bayfront Bikeway. The Bayfront Bikeway is a multipurpose path that is accessible from the south end of the parking lot of Harbor View Miniature Golf. It begins as a driveway but quickly transitions into a paved pathway. You will remain on the Bayfront Bikeway until you pass the Sloppy Duck Saloon and walk south on the Bluff Access Walkway, approximately halfway through the tour.