Graveyard Pond

Brief History Lesson Moment: In the War of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry used Erie and Presque Isle as a base. He built and harbored ships here. Misery Bay got its name because during the winter of 1813-1814, many of the men under Perry's command got smallpox. They were quarantined in there. Many of them died and their bodies were laid to rest in Graveyard Pond.

When you view the quiet waters of Graveyard Pond or Misery Bay today, it's almost impossible to imagine the horror of that. As a matter of fact, most people who visit this area of the park don't know the actual names of the bodies of water. They think of Graveyard Pond and its interconnected waterways as "the lagoons," and the park has free pontoon boat tours or canoe and kayak rentals. We went for a hike there the other day, and morbid creature that I am, all I could think of when I looked at the water was the fact that there are skeletons down there

And I know this is soooooo stupid, but it kind of grossed me out to see picnic benches, right there where the skeletons are.

I got over myself, and we forged on. I saw lots of other stuff that took my mind off the skeletons:

Like geese chasing each other. It might be hard to tell, but the one on the right was really booking.

And evidence of beavers. In the second shot, which is really a large tree, I think the beaver might have bitten off more than he could chew, no pun intended. The tree is only half-gnawed, like the beaver started it then got tired.

And someone must want to make sure this tree doesn't get away, because they put a padlock on it.

It was wonderful to see some green stuff, like these new reeds getting ready to replace the old ones.

But I think my favorite shot of the day came when I was trying to get a close up of the buds on this tree and happened to catch a bee finding some fresh new pollen.