The Erie Canal was was hailed as the greatest engineering marvel of its time. Thousands of unskilled labors worked to open the New York's wilderness to expansion. Mules powered the canal boats for hundreds of miles through wilderness as boom towns sprang up along the way.
Relive the glory days of canaling.

Rome The Erie Canal Village is a re-created 1840-1860 era outdoor living history museum managed by the Rome Historical Society. It is located on an original, exposed portion of the Old Erie Canal. Fifteen historic structures have been relocated from the area.

Visitors have an opportunity to ride a reconstructed packet boat pulled by mules. Interpreters and craftspeople further enrich the visitor's experience in their portrayal of village residents.

Syracuse Urban Cultural Park Visitor Center The Erie Canal Museum is the nation's leading maritime museum specializing in Erie Canal history. Housed in the National Register landmark 1850 Weighlock Building, the only surviving canal boat weighing station, the Museum includes a full-size canal boat that visitors board to experience canal life. Also included are an orientation theater program, exhibits on Syracuse history that combine period room settings with live demonstrations, and a special exhibition gallery featuring changing exhibits which draw on the Museum's nationally significant artifact collection. A research library is open to the public by appointment. Museum services include group tours, gift shop, videotape and education loan kit rentals, speakers bureau, and current information on the cultural and recreational opportunities available throughout the New York State Canal System.

This interpretive center operated by the Erie Canal Museum is located on the towpath in Old Erie Canal State Park across from Dewitt's Cedar Bay Picnic area. Canal Center's exhibits introduce visitors to the types of canal structures seen throughout the park, such as aqueducts, bridges, and wide waters. It houses the Museum's full-size canal boat collection including a historic houseboat and buoy tender.

The Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays 1-4 pm, April through June; daily 10 am-4 pm, July and August; Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4 pm, September and October; and the first Saturday of the month, 1-4 pm, November - March; or by appointment.

The Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum is a historic preservation site located on the enlarged Old Erie Canal where canal boats were built and repaired in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The site features a three-bay dry dock, reconstructed miter and drop gates, remains of a sunken canal boat, saw mill, blacksmith shop, woodworking shop, and an interpretive center. The Museum offers self-guided tours, day-long school group programs, archaeology instruction and digs, presentations to organizations, towpath walks and a picnic area.

Located on the Erie Canal, the Museum is housed in an 1860 canal-era building filled with authentic memorabilia as well as exhibits on local businesses. Guided group tours are available upon request. The museum is located on Catherine Street in Canastota.

The only museum in New York State exclusively dedicated to preserving the maritime heritage of the Hudson River. Indoor & outdoor exhibits on Hudson River maritime history, gift shop, waterfront special events, boat rides to historic Rondout Lighthouse.

Nestled at the base of a historic flight of locks proclaimed by General Marquis de Lafayette to be “one of the greatest engineering feats in the world in the 1800’s,”this charming museum, adjacent to the working double locks 34-35, traces the history of the original Erie Canal through displays in a historic former power house.

Uncover the rich legacy of shipwrecks in our Nautical Archaeology Center. View a large collection of original small watercraft built over the last 150 years in the Small Craft Exhibit and Preservation Building. Talk with on-site conservators and archaeologists to learn about current research happening in the lake in our Conservation Laboratory, and much more!