Liberty 3 #14942

The Story

In this upriver view of the miniature Statue of Liberty, she is shown at sunset in the middle of the wide Susquehanna River. She stands on an old railroad bridge pier in the Dauphin Narrows across from the town of Dauphin, just a few short miles upriver from the city of Harrisburg PA.

The bridge pier is rather old from 1859, but the statue is not. It’s the second one to stand on this spot and put there in 1997 after the original was downed from wind and wear after only a few years. It was then the local people created a drive to have her rebuilt. Very simply, they had become rather attached to having her out there and wanted their statue back.

This version is built to last, made of a metal and wood frame covered in fiberglass. Standing at 25 feet, she’s bolted and lashed down tight to survive the weather. Interestingly, it’s little known this new miniature Statue of Liberty was also fitted with solar lights at the time. But it was decided not to light her up at night as not to distract drivers on the busy main roads either side of the river.

Originally built in 1986 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, it was made from wood and Venetian blinds The idea was to allow wind to pass through, but only lasted six years until falling over. That was far longer than it was intended to be there.

And what about that purple robe? The builder recently painted the robe on her front side to highlight breast cancer awareness.

About The Susquehanna River

Short facts about a very big river:

The river begins at Ostego Lake at Cooperstown, New York, and runs 444 miles. North from here where this Statue of Liberty stands, the river drains most of Pennsylvania and to the south, empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna cuts through three mountains very close together at this point just above Harrisburg, making three impressive water gaps. In the distance of this picture, the northernmost gap can be seen through Peters Mountain.

Although this statue sits in the Dauphin Narrows, the Susquehanna River is very wide here, almost a mile. In spite of that, the river is known to be rather shallow for most of its length. Geologists theorize this river is very ancient and has likely been here since before the mountains raised up.

This image was shot aerially with a drone and there are two other pictures done the same way featuring alternate views: Liberty 1 #14939 and Liberty 2 #14941.

Location: in the Susquehanna River just off Dauphin, Dauphin and Perry Counties, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks