Three Men and a Bottle
In the early days of Presque Isle Harbor, neighbors and friends were few and far between. In the late 1920's and early thirties, Fred Piepkorn, Charlie Priest and Bill Green were friends, a fact disputed by some. Fred operated a fishing tug out of the harbor, prior to opening what became
known as Harbor Lodge (site of the present Portage Restaurant). Charlie Priest operated what was known as a blind pig, getting its start during the Prohibition, it's alleged. As you can imagine, all three basically lived off the land, on the sea, and pretty close to the bark. In any case,
they were known to have enjoyed an occasional drink together, and the story goes that they made a pact that if any of them should pass on, the others would not forget them, but in the spirit of Independence Day or some other suitable occasion, the survivor(s) would pour a drink down to the
demised, as a testimony to their friendship.
The location of the graves, one next to each other, is the back row of the Presque Isle Township Cemetary. If you visit this site, you can still take note of the three cement slabs covering each grave and see that there is a hole in each, whereby this strange tradition may be continued.
NOTE: This story of the "Three Men and a Bottle" was contributed by Robin Spencer, owner of the Presque Isle Lodge Bed & Breakfast.
