PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio -- A Lake Erie island landmark monument will be closed for repairs this summer.
The Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial on South Bass Island will undergo exterior maintenance this year. Crews started to install fencing around the memorial earlier this week.
Most of the $1.86 million project will be spent cleaning and replacing mortar in the memorial's joints. About $42,000 is going toward cleaning and replacing broken tile on the memorial's stairway and lower elevator landing.
Visitors won't have access to the plazas, rotunda, and the observation deck; the visitor center and the grounds will be open, though.
The Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial pays tribute to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and the men who fought alongside him in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. It also celebrates the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war in 1814 and created the world's longest friendly border between two nations -- the United States and Canada.
Put-in-Bay, a resort community located about 15 miles north of Sandusky, draws more than 750,000 visitors each summer.
