According to files at the Erie County Historical Society, Ferncliff dates back to 1893 and was incorporated as a development in 1903. Gib Loesel, who owns 21 Ferncliff Beach, said that people had the right to build cottages on the water and started doing so in 1903.
One of the first cottage dwellers was his grandfather, Charles Loesel, a tinsmith who built his own home out of tin nailed to an oak frame.
The Ferncliff lifestyle wasn’t easily accessible in its early years because the only access was a steep wooden staircase off the bluff at the foot of Lincoln Avenue. Everything from building supplies to food had to be carried down the steps, while water was derived from a spring in the bank.
When the road was built in about the 1930s, the stairs went unused and were abandoned in the 1960s.
Like many cottage owners, Loesel and his family raised their building on poles to prevent flooding during the high water. Others have rebuilt on higher foundations to keep the rushing water out.
The cottage owners take great pride in their bayfront homes with many of them remodeled into year-round residences.
“Cliffhanger: Erie’s timeless, secluded Ferncliff Beach,” Erie Times News, April 25, 2011.
Tour includes a cocktail event, and tickets are limited to (20) people.