Great time to visit historic villages in Upstate New York

By Sandra Scott

Learn about life in the past lane by visiting one of New York’s recreated villages. Explore the 17th century French fort on Onondaga Lake, wander the pathways of a 19th century country village in Genesee County, and at the Erie Canal Village in Rome find out how the Erie Canal changed the United States forever.

St. Marie among the Iroquois

During the 17th century the French settled in Canada. The people of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy lived south of the French Canadian settlements. The Confederacy was comprised of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. The French and Native Americans were interested in trading with one another. The Native Americans traded furs for glass beads, cloth, and metal tools. As part of a 1653 peace treaty the Iroquois invited the French to visit the land of the Onondagas.

Father Simon LeMoyne, a Jesuit priest, was chosen by the French governor to work with the Onondagas because of his previous experience with Native Americans. On Aug. 5, 1654, LeMoyne and his small party reached the main Onondaga village near present day Manlius. LeMoyne spent two weeks preaching peace and religion then returned to Quebec.The next year the Onondaga chief invited the “Black Robes” to return to build a mission and teach them about the Christian religion. In 1656 about 50 Frenchmen and their Iroquois guides left Quebec with 20 canoes loaded with supplies, tools, baby pigs and chickens along with other items they would need in their mission. They arrived on July 11, 1656 not far from the present location of St. Marie among the Iroquois, the living history museum and village in Liverpool. The mission only lasted 20 months. Troubles developed over trade and religion plus a new French governor lost interest in the project.

Constructed like the original mission, today’s St. Marie among the Iroquois is surrounded by a stockade with a lookout affording a great view of Onondaga Lake. In the museum life-size figures portray the 1653 peace treaty negotiations presenting varying attitudes to the treaty. The mission is a living history project with costumed interpreters on weekends during the summer that includes a blacksmith, cooks, woodworkers and other craftspeople.

Genesee Country Village

Experience a living, working 19th-century country village, complete with over 40 furnished buildings ranging from a pioneer homestead to a grand octagon house. Strolling through the village you will find costumed historic interpreters and a variety of live demonstrations that includes throwing pottery, cooking, and blacksmithing.

Typical of all country villages, Genesee County Village and Museum in Mumford, southwest of Rochester, has a blacksmith. The blacksmith shop was a place where people would gather to share local gossip and discuss world events. An amazing number of blacksmith phrases are still in use today. As blacksmith Jim Nicoll shares, “Blacksmithing is an art as well as a craft. It was important to ‘hit the nail on the head’ and to ‘strike while the iron is hot.’ And you should never ‘have too many irons in the fire.’” Nicoll explains that, “the word ‘brand’ comes from the smithy who, as far back as ancient Egypt, would use an iron firebrand with a distinctive design to mark his cattle. Merchants promoted the products they developed by using their ‘brand name’ and when they came out with a new product it was brand new.’”

Visit the mercantile, chat with the teacher in the one-room schoolhouse, watch the cooper fashion a barrel and learn about 19th century cooking techniques. The tinsmith will show visitors how to punch out their very own tin ornament. Genesee Country Village, one of the largest living history museums in the country, is also home to the John L. Wehle Art Gallery and the boyhood home of George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak Company.

The Erie Canal Village

Erie Canal Village in Rome is the only place in New York state where people can ride on a horse-drawn canal boat. Truly it is a trip in the slow lane as the speed limit was five miles an hour. In the 1800s the canal was very busy with barges carrying people and products. There was often a waiting line to get through the locks. In its day it was state-of-the-art travel.

A video in the Orientation Building offers an excellent background on the construction of the Erie Canal, which has been compared to the building of pyramids. On July 4, 1817, construction started in Rome because it was considered the stretch with the least obstacles to overcome. The first stretch connected the Mohawk to Wood Creek and was busy from the moment it was opened. When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825 it was the longest canal in the world and became a significant factor in the development of the United States.

In the one-room schoolhouse  visitors will find seats that held students from 1856 to 1953. The lunch pails are lined up on the shelf by the window next to the water pail with a dipper that was shared by everyone. Miss Jones, the schoolteacher, shares information about the days when reading, and ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic were taught to the tune of the hickory stick.

The Erie Canal Village is home to three museums. The main focus is the canal museum. Besides the school and blacksmith shop there is a church, livery stable, Ft. Bull Railroad Station, a canal store, and a settler’s house. The Harden Museum displays horse-drawn vehicles of the era while the New York State Museum of Cheese explores the history of cheese making.

More Living History sites

Other living history villages in New York State include the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, which explores rural heritage and farming history and Old Bethpage on Long Island, a recreated mid-19th-century American village that can trace its roots to Dutch and English settlements. At Fort Ontario, Fort Stanwix, and Old Fort Niagara visitors can learn about the various groups that defended what is New York State today.