Name: Erie Canal Museum
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The Erie Canal Museum, located in Downtown Syracuse, NY, engages the public in the story of the Erie Canal’s transformative impacts on peoples and places in the past, present, and future. We are stewards and interpreters of Erie Canal related materials and heritage. The Museum is housed in the 1850 National Register Weighlock Building, the last remaining structure of its kind. Visit us for exhibits with interactive displays and original artifacts, and engaging programs. The Erie Canal Museum is a must-see for adults and children of all ages.

The Erie Canal Museum’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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CurrentExhibitions

Augusta W. Brown: Watercolorist on the Waterways

Link Gallery

Dates: February 14, 2022 - May 10, 2023

Explore the journey of artist Augusta W. Brown up the Erie Canal into Quebec in 1890, through gorgeous sketches and watercolors of New York and the workers on the Canal. Augusta's journal, not seen since 1930, showcases her trip on a logging boat and the people she met along the way through detailed descriptions and drawings.

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UpcomingEvents

Weighlock Country Dance

Free, $10 recommended donation

Dates: March 25, 2023 - March 25, 2023

The Syracuse Country Dancers and Erie Canal Museum are happy to put on an English country dance, similar to dances from the towpath Canal era, at the museum on March 25 from 1-4PM! Everybody is welcome. The Syracuse Country Dancers are a friendly, multi-age group; the regulars include teens, seniors and everything in between. Their events are both smoke and alcohol free, and dress is casual. People come with or without a partner. Even those who arrive with a partner generally dance with many other partners through the evening as well, and this is encouraged. It’s part of the fun!

If you’re new to this, we suggest coming at the beginning of the dance, since that’s usually when the caller teaches most carefully, with newcomers in mind.

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Museum News

Erie Canal Artist-in-Residence

A Collaboration between the Erie Canal Museum and the New York State Canal Corporation

Dates: January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023

The New York State Canal Corporation and the Erie Canal Museum have announced that Matthew López-Jensen, a Bronx-based, interdisciplinary environmental artist, has been named the 2023 Erie Canal Artist-in-Residence (AIR), the first in the history of both organizations. The AIR program will focus on a year-long creative inquiry into the Canal and the logistics of Canal maintenance and operations – what is required to keep the Canal in a state of good repair so that it remains reliable and safe for all users.

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