08/11/2026
If you haven't gotten in the water yet this year, your time is running out! August's America 250 postcard depicts Marblehead Lighthouse on Lake Erie. From long before our nation's founding and extending into the present day, the Great Lakes are natural treasures that sustain life and offer ample recreation to countless Americans.
For millennia, Lake Erie supported diverse animal life from Lake Sturgeon to Bald Eagles.
Indigenous peoples lived around the lake for thousands of years. Many Tribal Nations with deep connections to Ohio, including the Erie, Ottawa, Seneca-Cayuga, and the Wyandot relied on the lake for trade, travel, and sustenance.
Following statehood in 1803, Ohioans quickly realized how important Lake Erie would be for linkage with the eastern seaboard. The Ohio and Erie Canal and Miami and Erie Canal both allowed for crops and goods to exit the state's interior and reach distant markets. Marblehead Lighthouse (today part of Marblehead Lighthouse State Park) arose near the mouth of Sandusky Bay in 1822 as the first lighthouse on any Great Lake. Ohio even took up arms against Michigan in 1835 to ensure that the economically important Maumee Bay remained part of Ohio.
Lake Erie's health declined by the early 1900s from issues like overfishing and industrial pollution. By the late 1960s, the phrase "Lake Erie is dead" circulated in the national media.
Environmental stewardship that united local, state, and national actors helped restore Lake Erie to a state that Ohioans could again use and enjoy. Current efforts, like Governor DeWine's H2Ohio Program, further sustain Lake Erie's health in ways that help the animals, people, and industries that depend on it.
What is your favorite way to spend a day on Lake Erie?
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
