On the way to Buffalo, we stopped at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, NY. The 1825 Erie Canal was a corridor of commerce and culture, carrying goods and immigrants from New York City, by linking the Hudson River to the Great Lakes.
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| Tamiko with Hoggee and Mule (1990, by Tom Tischler); hoggees (often orphans from New York City) drove the mules that pulled the canal boats in 6-hour shifts (KSS) |
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| Weighlock Building (1850) is the last of its kind, where canal boats were weighed to determine tolls |
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| Double Ender (1989, by Corky Goss) depicts the activities inside the former flour and seed store next to the museum |
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| A canal boat inside the weighlock building, in an actual lock where water was removed to allow the boat to rest on a scale |
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| Canal workers designed several innovations to help them clear the land, like this stump puller |
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| Commemorative medallions for the opening of the Erie Canal |
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| The Manhattan Company Bank (now JPMorganChase) was instrumental in financing construction of the canal |
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| Clinton Square, c 1894 (1993, by Mark Topp) depicts the Erie Canal as the center of commerce in Syracuse |
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| One display noted businesses that prospered in Syracuse, thanks to the canal, such as Gustav Stickley, known for his characteristic oak furniture |
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| Another famous Syracusan is Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, who was left-handed and learned to play the guitar upside-down; she is an influential folk and blues musician who wrote Freight Train in her early teens |
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| The Weighmaster office |
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| Outside, the Nathan Roberts replica canal boat is ready to enter the weighlock building |
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| The replica Frank Buchanan Thomson boat is in the weighlock |
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| The "head" on the canal boat |
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| Canal boat kitchen |
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| Sleeping berths on the canal boat |
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| The front of the canal boat with Donal, a sculpture of a boy fishing off the roof of the canal boat, from the Weighlock Guild |
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| The second floor of the museum shows us canal town enterprises, such as a tavern |
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| The local Onondaga Pottery |
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| General store |
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| A theater |
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| Next we headed to Libba's Grove (1993) |
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| Sculpture of Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (2012, by Sharon BuMann) with an etching of a freight train on the base |
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