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Ride to the top of Perry's Monument

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Ride to the top of Perry's Monument

While monuments to peace are rarely associated with military victories, Oliver Hazard Perry's victory over a British fleet in the War of 1812 so contributed to a lasting peace between the United States, Great Britain and Canada that Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial (PEVI) on Lake Erie is a fitting tribute to both.

The actual Memorial is a formal Beaux Arts design whose central feature is the world's tallest Doric-style column rising 352 feet over Lake Erie. The Memorial was built between 1912 and 1915 with money raised by a commission formed by nine states (OH, PA, WI, IL, NY, MA, RI, MI, KY) was added to the national park system in 1936.

Beneath the memorial floor in the rotunda, three American and the three British officers killed in the Battle of Lake Erie were reinterred in 1913 at the dedication of the Memorial. The approximate 25-acre park was a former swamp and forms an isthmus between the east and west lands of South Bass Island in Lake Erie.

In 2008, Perry's Victory hosted 150,000 visitors, but usually receives approximately 180,000 to 200,000 visitors a year. For the most part, they visit the park's Visitor Center, enjoy the park grounds and ride an elevator to the observation platform, 317 feet above the Lake.

The Memorial is open daily from April to October. Perry's Victory honors not only the principle of settling differences between nations by negotiation but also the naval battle that helped create the mutual confidence necessary to establish long lasting peace in North America. The park is working on developing a balance between its two big stories: Perry's victory and peace. Currently the battle aspects clearly predominate and the international peace component is being added to the park's interpretive themes.

The Memorial and the associated dedicated cultural landscape are the primary resource of the park. The Memorial and associated cultural landscape have significantly deteriorated in the last twenty years. The park is currently seeking funding to restore the Memorial prior to the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812.