History & local legend
General Anthony Wayne died at the military post in Erie on December 15, 1796, and was buried near its flagpole. Thirteen years later, his son Isaac arrived to take his father's remains to the family burial place at St. David's Church in Radnor.
The body was boiled to separate the bones for transport, and some remains stayed in Erie. That unusual division left Wayne with two burial sites. It also supplied the basis for a legend that not all the bones reached their intended destination; in one version, some were lost during Isaac's journey across Pennsylvania.
Hagen History Center recounts the resulting ghost story: Wayne rides between Erie and southeastern Pennsylvania each January 1, his birthday, looking for his missing bones. His horse is called Nancy.
