The Erie Canal historic site, Schoharie Crossing will host several online programs this winter on a variety of history related topics. Presentations will be offered in two series: Lunchbox Lessons and the Third Thursday Lectures. Both series will be offered live online and most will be recorded for later viewing on YouTube.
In January, the Lunchbox Lesson will be on Tuesday the 11th at 12noon featuring site staff discussing the importance and history of broom manufacturing in the Fort Hunter area. On the Third Thursday, Patrick Reynolds from the Oneida County Historical Society will discuss Jesse Williams and the Cheese Factory System at 7pm on the 20th.
During the month of February, the Lunchbox Lesson will discuss food preservation and its impact on westward expansion at 12noon on Tuesday the 8th. Bill Merchant will discuss the D&H Canal for the Third Thursday Lecture at 7pm on the 17th.
For March, the Lunchbox Lesson will discuss Women’s Suffrage on Tuesday the 8th at 12noon. Former NYS Archives staff, Craig Smith will speak on fascinating facts within the historic canal contracts held in the state’s collection on the 17th at 7pm.
On April 21st, Derrick Pratt from the Erie Canal Museum will present on the historic Weighlock building in Syracuse. That program starts at 7pm and wraps up our Third Thursday Lecture series.
These programs are free for the public and available on the Webex meeting platform. No registration is required, and links can be found on NYS Parks website or social media. If you would like a direct link email, please contact the site. For more information about these programs, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our Facebook page.
Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, in partnership with the NYS Canal Corporation, is pleased to announce that seven organizations have been selected to receive Erie Canalway IMPACT! Grants totaling $64,323. Funded projects include vital work to showcase canal heritage and welcome people to explore the canal in their local communities.
“We are thrilled to support these community-driven projects to strengthen the Canalway Corridor as a vibrant place to live, work, visit, and play,” said Bob Radliff, Executive Director of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. “These exciting projects will foster greater awareness and pride in New York’s canals that will have lasting benefits for residents and visitors.”
The grants range from $2,000 to $12,000 and will leverage an additional $161,107 in private and public project support. Over the past 13 years, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has made 90 grants to communities and non-profit organizations that have spurred $2.4 million in additional investments in heritage preservation, recreation, and education.
New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian U. Strattonsaid, “It is an honor to join with the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor in supporting education, recreation, and tourism along New York’s canal system. The history of our canals provides the framework for our State’s great legacy, and we look forward to supporting and enhancing awareness of these storied waterways for years to come through these IMPACT! Grant projects.”
2020 ERIE CANALWAY IMPACT! GRANTS Corn Hill Navigation, Pittsford
Award: $8,954
Improve educational and program delivery with new technology at a new visitor center being developed at Corn Hill Landing in Rochester.
Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse
Award: $9,015
Develop programming related to the Empire State Trail including a Syracuse-based Trail Ambassador Program and trail amenities that raise user awareness of the museum. Pilot both weekend and Corridor-wide trail rides.
Explore & More: The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Children’s Museum, Buffalo
Award: $11,454
Design and present an Erie Canal themed educational play experience every Wednesday throughout 2022 that will engage children and families.
Friends of Stewart Park, Ithaca
Award: $5,900
Design and install five outdoor interpretive signs that showcase the history of the Erie Canal and Cayuga Lake as they relate to the City of Ithaca.
National Abolition Hall of Fame, Peterboro
Award: $12,000
Design and install two outdoor interpretive signs within the Village of Canastota to raise awareness of the National Abolition Hall. Funds will also support a reenactment of a dramatic event that shaped the abolition movement in the United States.
Schoharie River Center, Esperance
Award: $12,000
Implement a series of educational programs with at-risk urban and rural youth to investigate water quality on the Erie Canal/Mohawk River and adjacent tributaries.
Village of Brockport, Brockport Award: $5,000 Design and install a pair of outdoor interpretive signs that celebrate the history, design, and operation of the Village’s iconic lift bridges.
ABOUT THE ERIE CANALWAY NATIONAL HERITAGE CORRIDOR Nearly 200 years after its construction, the Erie Canal remains an iconic symbol of American ingenuity and determination. The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor preserves our extraordinary canal heritage, promotes the Corridor as a world-class tourism destination, and fosters vibrant communities connected by more than 500 miles of waterway. It achieves its mission in partnership with the National Park Service, New York State agencies, non-profit organizations, local residents, and more than 200 communities across the full expanse of upstate New York. www.eriecanalway.org
Be a Tourist in Your Own Town- Thomas H Burbine Memorial Forest- Home to Montgomery County’s First Disc Golf Course
Disc golf is here in Montgomery County! A new course, designed by sport enthusiast Mark Hay, opened in the Thomas H. Burbine Memorial Forest, a 330-acre woods in the town of Charleston last fall.
Maintained by Hay and a dedicated group of volunteers, the course is drawing disc golf enthusiasts from the Mohawk Valley, Capital Region, and beyond. Montgomery County Executive Matt Ossenfort is one of the first and biggest supporters of the project. “Not many folks even know Montgomery County has its own forest, and what we’re trying to do through initiatives like “Be a Tourist in your own Hometown” is to remind people of the great assets that we have,” Ossenfort has said.
Within the first moments of walking through the trees to the first hole, I can see why people would adore this sport. What a luxury to have this course right in Montgomery County.
Mark’s passion for the game is shown right after the first throw. And it is a good throw, right through the tall pines.
Disc golf is similar to golf in that it has 18 holes, and each hole has a par number as a goal to hit. There are different kinds of discs for different kinds of throws, such as drivers and putters, and the objective is to put a disc, rather than a ball, into a basket. All you need is a book bag and a small startup investment for the discs. When we get to the basket, it is music to your ears when you throw the disc and hear the chains rattle as you “sink” the disc. We all cheer each other on as we go through the course.
Principal designer and Disc Golf Enthusiast Mark Hay
You walk the 2 mile course. It was a pleasure to walk the course with Mark and hear his story and how he thought the Burbine Forest would be a serene and perfect spot for the game. Mark’s heart is truly here at Burbine, as he learned the game a couple years ago, and found a core crew of family and friends to turn this dream into a reality. They volunteer their time and effort to add professional design and tee boxes to the course. Where the course is a little muddy, volunteers take the time to design and build bridges. You can see and feel the dedication to make this course not only a favorite for players, but a pristine Montgomery County tourism attraction as well.
This is a socially distanced sport you can play all year long.
My favorite spot was hole 10. For the advanced player, you must throw the disc across a pond! It was great to see Mark make it over the pond, and share stories of players attempting to make it across. There are quite a few discs in the pond, so many that Montgomery County diver Aaron Robinson has used his skills assisting the course with disc recovery! The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department has been such a wonderful partner, and everyone appreciates Aaron his own time and using his own equipment to perform this task.
Aaron Robinson takes a dive in the pond for disc recovery! (Pictures from https://www.facebook.com/nymcso – Montgomery County Sheriff’s Facebook Page)
Mark Hay – making it across the pond on Hole 10.
Mark Hay, principal designer and advocate for the Disc Golf Course at the Thomas H Burbine Memorial Forest.
The afternoon was a perfect crisp fall day, and as I drove home, I realized I worked up a bit of an appetite, and dinner was still 3 hours away. I was driving past the Rustic Red House- at Glen Country Store (https://www.facebook.com/rusticredhouse) and it was a perfect moment for a nice cup of soup. All the menu items are homemade, and if you wanted something more, they have made to order meals and sandwiches (with boars head cold cuts). Also nice sweet treats to enjoy and take home.
Another local owned business and big disc golf supporter is The Stockyard Public House (https://www.thestockyardpublichouse.com/), which opens at 4pm Tuesday-Friday, and 1pm Saturday and Sunday. The Stockyard has great homemade meals as well, and live music on the weekends.
Wherever you travel from, whether the country roads or the NYS Thruway, there are many restaurants and shops to visit. For a full listing-please visit www.visitmontgomerycountyny.com
Thank you to Mark Hay and Morgan McClary for sharing this experience with me. I can’t wait to buy some discs and try again.
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will host Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy’s Conservation Director Sarah Walsh on Thursday, September 23rd at 6:30pm via Webex for a presentation on wildlife crossing.
Walsh will discuss how the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy conducts their conservation work in Albany, Schenectady and Montgomery counties. This presentation will provide a brief overview of MHLC and introduce the audience to their latest partnership with The Nature Conservancy to address wildlife crossings in this region. You will learn about the importance of the Catskill to Adirondack Conservation Corridor and how we are working on the ground to ensure wildlife connectivity in a disconnected world.
Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy has been conserving and stewarding the lands and waters of the Mohawk and Hudson River valleys for the benefit of people and the environment since 1992.
This program is free and open to the public via the platform: Webex. No registration is required; the Webex link goes live at 6:20pm and can be found on the Schoharie Crossing Facebook or NYS Parks website. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like a direct invite from Webex.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter
Wedged between Adirondack and Catskills parks, the Tentrr Yankee Hill Getaway campsite lies on a thin strip of land in the middle of the old Erie Canal and the modern-day Barge Canal system. This area is teeming with places to bike, hike and explore the region’s rich history. At the eastern end of the site is the Putnam Lock Stand, a historic general store that used to sell dry goods, meat, groceries, liquors and literature to canal travelers. All campsites are on the open lawn with tents facing the Mohawk River/Erie Canal. An included pop-up tent can house additional campers (up to 4). Kick back and soak up the view from your Adirondack chairs. Your group can enjoy the included fire pit, grill, picnic table and benches during your stay. If you’re hungry after a day of adventure, the nearby town of Amsterdam (3 miles) also has several local restaurants and cafes as well as Riverlink Park which hosts outdoor concerts and has a boat dock. For the paddlers in the family, there is a self-service kayak rental kiosk on the campsite run by Upstate Kayak Rentals.
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is excited to host Jeanine Laverty for the next installment of the Not Just for Kids Storytelling series on Sunday, August 22nd starting at 6pm.
Jeannine Laverty will tell, “Summer’s on the Move.” Laverty lives in Saratoga and has been telling international folk tales since 1979. She has taught weekend workshops in storytelling for adults at Sagamore and other Adirondack sites since 1980 and performs as part of the storytelling ensemble, SweetLand Storytellers.
Wrapping up the 2021 series on August 29th, Sandy Schuman will perform, “NY’s American Anthems: The Stories of Yankee Doodle, Take Me Out To The Ballgame, God Bless America, and More.” Schuman is a winner of the Susquehanna Folk Festival Liars Contest and the St. Louis Jewish Storytelling Contest and has been featured at The Northeast Storytelling Conference, Riverway Storytelling Festival, Caffè Lena, Proctors, Tellabration, and Limmud Boston.
Not Just for Kids Storytelling will be held outside, under a tent near the Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie Street, Fort Hunter, NY 12069. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to sit on. The program begins at 6pm and is free to the public due to the generous support of a Saratoga Arts’ Community Arts Grant that has been made possible with funding by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Karen’s Produce and Ice Cream is also another wonderful supporter of these programs.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is excited to host storyteller Joe Doolittle for the second installment in the return of our annual Not Just for Kids Storytelling series on Sunday, August 8th starting at 6:00pm. Storytelling performances occur each week of the month and are open to the public of all ages. Local tellers, with well-crafted tales will perform during the 29th year of this program at Schoharie Crossing.
Doolittle, who resides in Scotia, will tell, “If the Waters Could Talk, the Stories They’d Tell…” This storyteller delivers with his humorous, good-natured style for audiences throughout upstate New York. He loves to tell personal and family stories and has developed many historically based tales about the early history of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys and the Erie Canal. Doolittle is also co-producer of Story Circle at Proctors in Schenectady.
The lineup for the rest of the series is: August 15th, Margaret French. August 22nd, Jeannine Laverty. August 29th, Sandy Schuman.
Not Just for Kids Storytelling will be held outside, under a tent near the Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie Street, Fort Hunter, NY 12069. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to sit on. In case of rain, there is limited seating inside the Visitor Center and we will stream on Facebook. The program begins at 6pm and is free to the public due to the generous support of a Saratoga Arts’ Community Arts Grant that has been made possible with funding by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Karen’s Produce and Ice Cream is also another wonderful supporter of these programs.
For information please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: www.parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.
A Taste of Amsterdam returns the week of July 26th – August 1st. All of your favorite places will be offering selections for $18.85 because the City of Amsterdam was established in 1885. Don’t forget to share your photos of you and your friends enjoying your favorite meals! For Menus, checkout the Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/City-of-Amsterdam-Tourism-Marketing-Recreation-205867496214050/
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is excited to announce the return of the annual Not Just for Kids Storytelling series on Sunday evenings in August, starting at 6:00pm. This storytelling performance each week is open to the public of all ages. Local tellers, with well-crafted tales will perform during the 29th year of this program at Schoharie Crossing.
On August 1st, Kate Dudding will perform, “Pandemic Ponderings: Stories of How I’ve Been Coping and Finding Joy.” Dudding is a storyteller from Saratoga County and has won several Regional and National storytelling awards such as the Northeast Region ORACLE Award from the National Storytelling Network.
August 8th, Joe Doolittle of Scotia will be at the site to tell, “If the Waters Could Talk, the Stories They’d Tell…” This storyteller delivers with his humorous, good-natured style for audiences throughout upstate New York. He loves to tell personal and family stories and has developed many historically based tales about the early history of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys and the Erie Canal. Doolittle is also co-producer of Story Circle at Proctors in Schenectady.
Margaret French will perform the program, “Nudging Reality,” on August 15th. She a regular storyteller at Caffe Lena and at Woodlawn Commons in Saratoga. French is also a member of the StoryCircle of the Capital District, LANES (the association for storytellers in the Northeast), and the National Storytelling Network.
August 22nd, Jeannine Laverty will tell, “Summer’s on the Move.” Laverty lives in Saratoga and has been telling international folk tales since 1979. She has taught weekend workshops in storytelling for adults at Sagamore and other Adirondack sites since 1980 and performs as part of the storytelling ensemble, SweetLand Storytellers.
Wrapping up the 2021 series on August 29th, Sandy Schuman will perform, “NY’s American Anthems: The Stories of Yankee Doodle, Take Me Out To The Ballgame, God Bless America, and More.” Schuman is a winner of the Susquehanna Folk Festival Liars Contest and the St. Louis Jewish Storytelling Contest and has been featured at The Northeast Storytelling Conference, Riverway Storytelling Festival, Caffè Lena, Proctors, Tellabration, and Limmud Boston.
Not Just for Kids Storytelling will be held outside, under a tent near the Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie Street, Fort Hunter, NY 12069. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to sit on. The program begins at 6pm and is free to the public due to the generous support of a Saratoga Arts’ Community Arts Grant that has been made possible with funding by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Karen’s Produce and Ice Cream is also another wonderful supporter of these programs.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is inviting people to sign up now for Paddle the Mohawk Valley, Saturday, August 7 from 9am-1pm. Participants will paddle the scenic and historic Mohawk River through Erie Canal Locks 11 and 12 and past several islands on this 5.5-mile guided half-day trip. Paddlers will start at Schoharie Crossing Boat Launch and paddle to Port Jackson/Amsterdam.
“We are eager to introduce people to paddling on the Erie Canal. Paddling safely together after a year of social isolation will be a wonderful way to celebrate and appreciate the recreational, scenic, and historic bounty of the Mohawk Valley,” said Mona Caron, Program Manager for the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
“This summer is a season of economic recovery and finally getting back to the people and activities we love,” said New York State Canal Corporation Director Brain U. Stratton. “That’s why we’re incredibly excited to promote paddling on the historic and scenic Erie Canal, one of the premier waters ways in the Empire State which will allow New Yorkers and tourists alike to appreciate it in all its glory.”
ABOUT THE ERIE CANALWAY Nearly 200 years after its construction, the Erie Canal remains an iconic symbol of American ingenuity and determination. The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor preserves our extraordinary canal heritage, promotes the Corridor as a world-class tourism destination, and fosters vibrant communities connected by more than 500 miles of waterway. It achieves its mission in partnership with the National Park Service, New York State agencies, non-profit organizations, local residents, and more than 200 communities across the full expanse of upstate New York. www.eriecanalway.org
