Digital exhibit features entries in Erie Canal Museum’s Brick-a-Boat model canal boat contest. Works go on the museum website August 28. By Vicki Krisak, Erie Canal Museum A steam-powered cargo boat, a tugboat that traveled the Great Lakes, a railroad barge, and a replica of the Independence, a packet boat…
By David Brooks, Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site An examination of the environmental history of Upstate New York and its impact on the Erie Canal The waterways of New York State have been utilized for hundreds of years but with the arrival of Europeans and the age of colonialism, their…
A look at Syracuse’s 1820 Fourth of July celebration By Derrick Pratt, Erie Canal Museum Educator The Erie Canal totally transformed the state of New York. In few places was that transformation as clear as in the Erie Canal Museum’s hometown, Syracuse. Prior to the Canal, what became the City…
Working at the Weighlock Building on the Erie Canal in Syracuse, New York New York State employees occupied the Syracuse Weighlock Building beginning on July 22, 1850. There was a high turnover rate among them. It’s not known how many employees worked at the Weighlock, but at least in…
By Derrick Pratt, Erie Canal Museum Educator Earlier this year, we looked at the early months of 1820 in Syracuse and on the fledgling Erie Canal, which, with the arrival of the Montezuma on April 20, began to offer the small community a taste of the astounding opportunities presented by…
Educator Derrick Pratt’s biography of Oliver Wendell Petrie, a worker on early 20th century canals By Derrick Pratt, Erie Canal Museum Educator Oliver Wendell Petrie was born into a large family on November 18, 1899 in Oswego, New York. His mother was an avid reader and named her son after…
By Ashley Maready, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Erie Canal Museum At the time of the original Erie Canal’s construction, in the early 19th century, the big question to be answered was, “Where will the Canal connect to Lake Erie?” A fierce battle ensued, between the villages of Buffalo and…
