Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA bay at the tip of Presque Isle named for the 1813-14 winter when Battle of Lake Erie sailors died of smallpox in quarantine and were buried in adjacent Graveyard Pond.
301 Peninsula Drive, Erie, PA 16505
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Presque Isle State Park is free to enter. Misery Bay sits near Perry Monument at the eastern end of the park drive.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved park road and lakeshore; nearby Graveyard Pond is wetland and not directly accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
War of 1812 and Battle of Lake Erie association · Site of 1813-14 smallpox quarantine deaths · Graveyard Pond burials · Within Presque Isle State Park
Misery Bay sits near the eastern tip of the Presque Isle peninsula on Lake Erie, adjacent to the Perry Monument. Its name comes from the period after the Battle of Lake Erie, the September 1813 naval engagement in which Oliver Hazard Perry's American squadron defeated the British fleet.
Following the battle, the fleet wintered at Erie. During the winters of 1813-14, the men endured severe conditions. According to accounts of Presque Isle's history, many of the men contracted smallpox and were kept in quarantine in the area of the bay. A number of those who became infected died, and they were buried in a nearby body of water that came to be called Graveyard Pond.
The hardship of that winter gave the bay its name. The episode is part of the documented War of 1812 history of the Erie waterfront, where Perry's fleet had been built and from which it sailed.
Today Misery Bay and Graveyard Pond lie within Presque Isle State Park, a free public park managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Perry Monument, dedicated to the battle and to the men who served, stands beside the bay, and historical markers along the park drive describe the area's role in the war and the deaths that followed.
Sources
Misery Bay's reputation grows directly out of its history. Because the name itself records a winter of sickness and death, and because the men who died were buried in the adjacent Graveyard Pond, the area is treated in regional listings of haunted Erie as a place where the past sits close to the surface.
Those accounts describe a heavy or somber feeling around the bay and pond, particularly in the off-season, rather than specific repeated sightings. No named figure or detailed apparition story has been documented in the way the history of the deaths has; the lore is atmospheric and rooted in the known burials.
Visitors approach Misery Bay primarily as a historical and natural site within Presque Isle State Park. Perry Monument and the markers nearby keep the focus on the War of 1812 service and the men who did not survive the winter. The somber reputation is best understood as a memory of that documented loss rather than a freestanding ghost legend.
Notable Entities
Misery Bay can be seen for free from the Presque Isle park drive near Perry Monument, at the eastern tip of the peninsula. Visitors can stop at nearby pullouts, read the historical markers, and view the bay and the wooded area around Graveyard Pond.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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