Erielhonan
The first known people to inhabit Presque Isle are the Erielhonans, which is where the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, gets its name. An Erielhonan legend taught that the Great Spirit lead them to Presque Isle because of the wealth of game, the abundance of clean fresh water, and the cool breezes "coming from the land of snow and ice" (Canada). They lived in multi-family long houses in villages enclosed in palisades and grew the "Three Sisters"—corn, beans, and squash—during the warm season. In the winter tribal members lived off the stored crops and animals taken in hunts. They also were very resourceful and constructed canoes made out of birch bark found on the peninsula. The Eriez (a shorter name for the Erielhonan) were ultimately destroyed by the Iroquois in 1654, who adopted some of the survivors into their own group, these being primarily absorbed into the Senecas.
Another legend tells us that the Eriez ventured into Lake Erie in search of the land where the sun set. The spirit of the lake blew a fierce storm to keep the Eriez from finding the sun. To protect the Eriez from the storm, their god laid his outstreatched arm into the lake, giving them safety during the storm. The god's arm would remain in the lake, protecting the tribe's future generations.
A skeleton of was found by Sue Daley in February 1980. It was later determined to be have belonged to an Eriez Native American by an anthropologist.
Read more about this topic: History Of Presque Isle