The Erie Canal Village, Rome, NY, Part 1

The Erie Canal Village is in Rome, NY. We were there for most of the day, on July 4th, and had an absolute blast.

You can see all the photos I took here at my Flickr site. I’ll showcase only the basic photos for the blog posts. I think our visit, which incorporated seeing and learning so many different things, may take up a few posts. First, some history about the Village. It’s a huge, outdoor living museum where time stopped almost 200 years ago. Really, if it wasn’t for the sounds of traffic on the main road, or the power lines visible behind the fields, you’d think you were really in the early 19th century.

On July 4, 1817, the New York State governor was in this booming town of Rome, NY. This area was the location of the official beginning of the famous Erie Canal, said to be the most incredible engineering marvel of all time. It had been the brainchild of various New Yorkers shortly after the Revolutionary War, who wanted to open up the NY wilderness. Transportation in NY in those days was over rugged country and thickly-forested hills. A man-made waterway connecting the Hudson River/Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie was the dream. Very few leaders were willing to sponsor this “insane” idea. Thomas Jefferson, when hearing about the plan, refused to give any federal aid to the project, saying, “You talk of making a canal 350 miles through the wilderness… it is little short of madness to think of it at this day!” Long before the Erie Canal was bringing in millions of dollars into New York’s coffers, it was called “Clinton’s Folly,” or “Clinton’s Ditch.”

The Erie Canal was completed in 1827, and brought instant wealth to the state. It also proved to be the springboard for Western Expansion, as this area of New York was the only passable way west from the eastern seaboard of the United States. Not long after the completion of the Erie Canal, the railroad system surpassed the Erie Canal as the main method of east to west transport. With the development of the automobile and the interstate highway system after World War II (and accompanying perks such as Liverpool Victoria car insurance!), the canal and railroad system became less used.

The Erie Canal Village, opened in 1978 when Rome, NY, was going through an historical awakening of it’s roots, takes us back to that “boom” time of prosperity in New York. There are numerous museums you can explore– a few settler’s houses decorated as if the families would be back at any moment; a blacksmith shop and horse corral; a schoolhouse and Methodist church; the Harden Museum filled with various horse carriages and sleighs depicting transportation of that era; an ice house, general store, railroad station, and tavern (where you can actually buy food and drink); a museum inside an old cheese factory showing the cheese industry of New York; and more! Best of all– a 30-minute ride on the old Erie Canal packet boat, horse-drawn. What a great day!

We started off by exploring an interesting little museum Read more

Takes Me Forever…

Gosh, it takes me forever to go through all our photos, edit them, and upload them! I really should take fewer photos when we visit a place! I am referring to our recent exploit to the Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY– which I still have to post! I think I took 100 photos and 5 videos, lol… ugh! There was so much to see and do that I really didn’t want to miss a thing.

We were able to get in the Village for free, as July 4th is “free” day in celebration of the holiday and of the anniversary of the Erie Canal. It was at that location that DeWitt Clinton shoveled the first clod of dirt to begin the decade-long project of the famous Erie Canal. They’ve tried to retain that moment in history at the village. Truly, you’d never know it was 2008 there, except for the power lines in the back fields and the restrooms at the entrance. It was a terrific experience.

I have REALLY got to get going on those photos!!