Presque Isle's found treasures include circular saw, rusty handgun and many cell phones

Presque Isle State Park attracts tens of thousands of visitors each week from Memorial Day through Labor Day, but the park doesn't close when summer ends. This is the seventh and final article in a monthly series about activities and events at Presque Isle in the fall, winter and spring.

If you lose a smartphone, wallet or expensive pair of sunglasses at Presque Isle State Park, your best hope is that it winds up at the old Ranger Station across from Beach 6.

Officially called the Public Safety Building, it is the home of the park's lost and found department. Wayward items found along the beaches, trails and anywhere else on the peninsula are taken there and stored for at least one year, in hopes of reuniting them with their owner.

"We record everything into our logbook, with its estimated value, and where and when it was found," said Ryan Rager, assistant park manager. "So, when someone calls us or shows up to claim an item, we can use that info to confirm it."

The park's lost-and-found log sheets are filled with notes about cell phones, keys and sunglasses.

But a few found items stick out. There was a parking placard for a person with a disability, a fishing hat with an attached fishing license, and a circular saw.

Then there is the handgun.

"We found that earlier this year at one of the beaches. It was inside a carrier," said Bryan Hogan, the park's ranger supervisor. "It appears to have fallen off a boat because there's some rust on it."

The handgun and carrier are kept in the building's evidence room, along with two confiscated shotguns.

If anyone comes to claim the handgun, they will be questioned about where and when it was lost, and their name will be checked to see if they have been involved in any crimes, Hogan said.

"If no one claims it after a period of time, we will destroy the gun," Hogan said.

Besides the guns, the evidence room is also where rangers store found money. Two small plastic bags of cash are kept in a locked safe.

"When someone claims to have lost money at the park, we ask where, when, how much and whether there were any other identifying characteristics, such as a money clip," Hogan said.

Any money left unclaimed will eventually be deposited into the state's Commonwealth Account, park officials said. Other unclaimed items of value are donated to local charities.

Not every item winds up in the lost and found

Not every lost object goes into the park's lost and found. Park rangers found a lost dog in early April near Beach 1.

"The dog was very cooperative, we didn't even need to use the cinch," Rager said. "We took a photo of it and put the photo on our social media. We ended up taking the dog to the Humane Society."

Most smartphones spend a day on a ranger's desk, in case the owner calls their own number. Sometimes a ranger is able to call the owner's most recent contact and inform them the phone has been found.

But most items end up stored in the building's file room, where they are divided by size and value, Hogan said.

"Every January, we get rid of all unclaimed items from two years previously, so in January 2024 we got rid of all the 2022 items," Hogan said.

About half of all cell phones found at the park are never claimed.

Sometimes a ranger makes a last-ditch effort to find an owner before an item is trashed or donated.

Hogan recalled scouring the internet to find a man whose wallet had been in the lost and found for more than a year. It ended up belonging to a retired physician.

"He had three $50 Canadian bills in the wallet, and he was so thrilled to find it that he left two of the bills on the desk as a donation," Hogan said.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNBruce.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Presque Isle State Park lost and found includes handgun, circular saw