Literary Tourism: Erie, Pennsylvania

[image description: A hardcover map book open to a map of the continental US. A gold compass is open on the lower right corner of the map.]

Earlier this summer when Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf and I were on our road trip circling Lakes Erie and Ontario, we stopped in the appropriately named Erie, Pennsylvania. Neither of us had been before, so we didn’t know what a darling town we’d stumbled into.

We were only in Erie for a day, so we had to make the most of it. We started our day at the Erie Maritime Museum. My partner loves sailing and tall ships. (We even bought a very tiny and not at all tall sailboat earlier this summer––it can hold one person comfortably or two if you’re married and in a good marriage. I didn’t enjoy having to sit on the bottom of the boat, where it was wet, because there wasn’t a seat, and spent half the time we went out together grumbling about my soaking wet ass and soggy yoga pants. So we’ve lovingly dubbed the sailboat, which is more like a glorified bath toy, a divorce boat.

But the ships the Erie Maritime Museum were no divorce boat. These were legit tall ships, able to sail the Great Lakes with a crew of a dozen or more.

[image description: A tall sailboat with two tall masts and ropes everywhere. It’s docked on the side of a walkway along the shore of Lake Erie.]

The Erie Maritime Museum showcases naval history on the Great Lakes, though the main focus is on the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Though Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes, it’s still MASSIVE. And the battles were dramatic. Complete with canons shooting cannonballs through the sides of the ships, blasting through the wood paneling and knocking limbs off the body of their owner.

[image description: a look at a tall mast from below. Flags wave at the top and ropes crisscross in every direction.]

You’re probably wondering by now what this has to do with books. Well, like every good museum store, the Erie Maritime Museum sells books.

[image description: A copy of Shipcarvers of North America by M. V. Brewington. It has a solid blue background with a colorized carved wood ship carving of a woman who would go on the front of a ship.]

That was how I got a copy of Shipcarvers of North America by M. V. Brewington, published in 1962. Which I may or may not need as reference for a future novel. The idea has been brewing for awhile, so I’m slowly collecting books I’d need for research to write historical fiction that’s accurate to the time. It’s a couple of creative projects back in my queue of books to write, but I’ll keep you posted.

Did I mention it’s illustrated?!

[image description: An illustrated page from Shipcarvers of North America. It’s a side view of a wooden carved woman who would decorate the front of a tall ship.]

Seriously, if all reference books had illustrations and photographs, I wouldn’t get distracted going down so many internet rabbit holes.

After the museum, we took a short drive to a nearby indie bookstore: Pressed.

[image description: The storefront of Pressed, which advertises books, coffee, and gifts. It has large glass windows surrounded by a brick and tile facade. The shop is on the edge of a strip mall line of stores.]

Since Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf and I were using this road trip to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, which is the paper anniversary, we stopped at indie bookstores in every city we visited and picked out books for one another. Although not every year will be the paper anniversary, we’re big enough book nerds that bookstore tourism will always be a staple of our travels.

After getting tea and iced coffee from the Pressed coffee counter, we wandered into the store, which is soooo much bigger and cozier than the strip mall would have you think!

[image description: The front portion of the store right inside the door. There are tables of staff picks, a variety of quirky lighting, racks of literary-themed t-shirts, and funky black and white floor tiles.]

Within seconds, Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf had wandered off. It didn’t take him long to find the history section.

[image description: Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf wearing a red hat, red collared shirt, and khaki shorts, holding an iced tea and staring thoughtfully at the books in the history section.]

I wandered deeper into the store and found each new nook even cuter than the one before.

[image description: a look at the back of the store. White brick wall, dark wood floors, soft lighting, and shelf after shelf after shelf of books.]

I know a lot of bookstores––everyone from Books-A-Million to indies––sells toys, games, gifts, and kitsch because the profit margins are higher than for books and those sales can help keep the store afloat. This only annoys me when I feel like the items thrown in randomly or in no way related to books. I love it when bookstores sell book-themed t-shirts, bookmarks, reading lights, and the like, but Legos? What does that have to do with anything?

What I appreciate about Pressed is that the non-book items weren’t just thrown around arbitrarily. The displays with travel items were in the travel section. The pet items were in the pet section. Local arts and crafts were in the how-to/arts and crafts section. It made sense.

[image description: A shelf of travel books. On top of the shelf is a display of luggage tags, passport cover, and carry on pouch for liquids that meet TSA requirements.]

Another thing I appreciated, which would’ve been even cooler if I’d been twenty years younger and two feet shorter, are the reading nooks. In the kids’ section there was a tree with a bench and pillows inside where you could crawl in and get some uninterrupted reading time. At least until your parents drag you out.

[image description: A reading nook in the children’s section of the bookstore. The floor has carpet that looks like moss-covered cobblestone. There’s a large fake tree hollowed out in the corner with a bench inside. There are green lights illuminating the inside. There are also tree stump chairs and seating for adult-sized people.]

There are also plenty of pillows on the floor, so you can just plop down anywhere for a quiet moment to read. That’s totally a thing I do, though I usually plop down without pillows and in the non-kids’ sections of the bookstore. These people get me!

[image description: Two pillows on the floor up against the back of a bookshelf.]

Pressed is the kind of bookstore that anyone would be lucky to have in their town. And between it and the museum, it made me want to visit Erie again soon.