She\u2019s been away for more than a year for a major overhaul, but the U.S. Brig Niagara will be back home tomorrow. There will be fanfare when the brig arrives around noon, including a 40-boat parade of sail and a welcome from Josh Shapiro, the Governor of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The Niagara won\u2019t be under sail, because the ship\u2019s rigging still needs to be completed. But, when the fully rebuilt Niagara enters the Erie Harbor, motors around Presque Isle Bay, and docks at the Erie Maritime Museum, those who love the ship and understand her history say it will be a meaningful moment for many.<\/p>\n
Erie News Now talked with two people who have a special connection to the flagship\u2014both excited to welcome her home and hopeful for her future.<\/p>\n
We spoke with Phillip Conner, known as \u201cPip,\u201d whose two-week sail training experience at age 17 turned into a lifelong passion for the ship. \u201cI\u2019m really excited for it. It\u2019s going to be fantastic to welcome her back home again,\u201d Conner said, who plans to watch the return from the Lettie G. Howard, Erie\u2019s sister tall ship.<\/p>\n
We also talked with George Deutsch, one of the four original incorporators of the Flagship Niagara League, who was there at the beginning in the 1980s, pushing to get the historic brig rebuilt and sailing as a a living history museum.<\/p>\n
For Conner, Niagara is more than a historic ship \u2014 it\u2019s where he found a connection to the past, and to the community that supports the ship. Before heading off to college, his first two-week sailing experience turned into a passion that led to apprenticeships, crew positions, and 16 years sailing aboard Niagara.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get to live history, you get to learn about it, you get to feel the thump of the chest as you fire the guns, you get to feel the Manila lines in your hands \u2014 traditional rope, climb aloft, and you get to live and experience this whole world that is still possible today,\u201d Conner said.<\/p>\n
Deutsch said Niagara remains a powerful symbol of Erie\u2019s place in American history.<\/p>\n
\u201cErie has a long history, there\u2019s lots of things to be proud of, but I think it is the singular symbol of Erie\u2019s contribution to American history,\u201d Deutsch said.<\/p>\n
The ship\u2019s return follows a major rebuild supported by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which operates the ship.<\/p>\n
Deutsch said the state\u2019s investment was needed to preserve Niagara for future generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cA major overhaul like this has to be done \u2014 and they stepped up, spent 7-million-dollars. It was a great opportunity to see that kind of commitment and that kind of work and now I\u2019m looking for the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Deutsch said he believes Erie will need to rebuild a local support system to help provide financial and volunteer resources for the ship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to have to be built from the ground up here \u2014 working with and getting some guidance from the state, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Conner, the goal is making sure others have the same chance to experience Niagara as living history.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that the community that is most invested in Niagara gets a chance to access and be part of her again,\u201d Conner said.<\/p>\n
Erie News Now will provide live coverage of the ship\u2019s return on Thursday beginning at noon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She\u2019s been away for more than a year for a major overhaul, but the U.S. Brig Niagara will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[733,136,138,137,72607,33,85367,35858,29204,100791,100790,41204],"class_list":["post-233301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-community-event","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-flagship-niagara-league","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-maritime-museum","tag-pennsylvania-historical-and-museum-commission","tag-presque-isle-bay","tag-sailing","tag-ship-restoration","tag-u-s-brig-niagara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}