Nice museum. Lots of things to look at and learn about. Gentlemen manning the desk was very friendly.
Nora Covington
Great museum with educational exhibits and history. Good for kids and adults to enjoy local finds!
Dawn Cappadona
What an interesting place! We learned about the fascinating history of the canal along with the history of the development of western NY. Dana, our guide, was so knowledgeable. A great stop when visiting Syracuse!
Dave Barraza
4-27-2025. We never got past the front desk. The misogynist there could not stop making cracks about my girlfriend washing his car and doing his dishes. Shameful.
Mike Gard
This was a fantastic experience, I am so glad that they are one of the museums that are open on a Tuesday in Syracuse. The person at the front desk was knowledgeable, she greeted me right away, and she answered any questions that I had. She was very welcoming and made sure that I had a great time. What a wealth of knowledge, artifacts, and art you have there. For someone that works in the museum world it was definitely a pleasure to stop at this museum. You should not overlook this fantastic place.
Juli S.
Great customer service, clean bathrooms and a lot of great Syracuse history! I had a great time here
A C
I went with my parents as "something to do" in Syracuse and ended up really enjoying myself. Henry, a volunteer, greeted us at the door and verbally took us through a much better history of the canal than displays ever could and answered all my questions. He was knowledgable, friendly and overall just made my experience of the museum!
Pallavi Keluskar
Great place to visit. Lots of interactive set ups help people of different areas and learning preferences have equally positive experience. We were also able to see the Gingerbread house set up and were pleasantly surprised with the participation of multiple partners - the whole set up was great, with live music, treats and smiling volunteers made experience memorable.
Lee Roder
We thoroughly enjoyed the museum. The exhibits were very well done - from standard photos and historical information to audio, video, and interactive activities. We live further south, and it was all railroads and cattle trails as that area was settled. Being able to take in the scale of the Erie canal project and the incredible amount of labor performed before the advent of the Industrial Age was such a great experience. Also, learning of how the building itself (once a weigh lock on the original canal) was saved from demolition, of the shameful practice of redlining, and the present-day efforts to right those wrongs was an unexpected and much appreciated bit of area history
Daniel Lucente
A formerly wonderful museum that detailed the extraordinary efforts resulting in the completion of the Erie canal. Many great exhibits, including a complete canal boat from the 1850 canal era.
Unfortunately, like many parts of our society, they have given themselves fully over to self-loathing and to inaccurate and ugly historical judgments. Someone, probably someone of below average IQ who has an inflated sense of self-worth and a desire to assuage their own guilt, has gone through the museum and added plaques to many of the exhibits detailing the great wrongs that are not mentioned in the exhibit.
This is the typical response of a certain low IQ segment of our society when they come to the realization that not everything was as ideal as they would like it to be several hundred years ago. Instead of celebrating the wonderful efforts that resulted in this incredible historic achievement, they would rather spend more time talking about anything that they deem to be unpleasant.
It is disgusting and the height of ingratitude. What a sad thing that this once worthwhile museum is being taken over by this type of thinking. Do not support this by visiting. If you do visit, do not pay anything to go in.
? Not the first time here. And not the last. I like it and think it should be visited.
Randy Melcombe
Housed in the actual historic building that weighed the boats and cargo. You will learn a very good general history of the Erie Canal. If you like to read everything, it will take you 2-2.5 hours to go through the whole museum? (start with the bottom floor). Also, they have two hour free parking! It is in the government employee lot across Erie Boulevard (entrance from James Street). Look in my posted pictures for the signs to look out for?
John Lyons
Reminded me of the bytowne museum in Ottawa. Lots of information about the early days of the Erie canal. Provides a great background on Syracuse in its early days.
miranda paquette
We were welcomed by a wonderful staff member who was clearly well informed. We did the tour by following the arrows as advised, it was perfect. There are some interactive parts and lots of information readily available. There were spots where there were questions on dark red signs asking you to think deeper on a given topic which culminated in an opportunity to share your thoughts on the second floor. My favourite part was the boat you can walked through. The blue dress in the second floor is a close second because of how beautiful it is.
Shelly's 411
Very well done. I also appreciate the nod to lack of representation in the museum. As they work to update and improve, they are acknowledge their weakness.
Nice museum. Lots of things to look at and learn about. Gentlemen manning the desk was very friendly.
Great museum with educational exhibits and history. Good for kids and adults to enjoy local finds!
What an interesting place! We learned about the fascinating history of the canal along with the history of the development of western NY. Dana, our guide, was so knowledgeable. A great stop when visiting Syracuse!
4-27-2025. We never got past the front desk. The misogynist there could not stop making cracks about my girlfriend washing his car and doing his dishes. Shameful.
This was a fantastic experience, I am so glad that they are one of the museums that are open on a Tuesday in Syracuse. The person at the front desk was knowledgeable, she greeted me right away, and she answered any questions that I had. She was very welcoming and made sure that I had a great time. What a wealth of knowledge, artifacts, and art you have there. For someone that works in the museum world it was definitely a pleasure to stop at this museum. You should not overlook this fantastic place.
Great customer service, clean bathrooms and a lot of great Syracuse history! I had a great time here
I went with my parents as "something to do" in Syracuse and ended up really enjoying myself. Henry, a volunteer, greeted us at the door and verbally took us through a much better history of the canal than displays ever could and answered all my questions. He was knowledgable, friendly and overall just made my experience of the museum!
Great place to visit. Lots of interactive set ups help people of different areas and learning preferences have equally positive experience. We were also able to see the Gingerbread house set up and were pleasantly surprised with the participation of multiple partners - the whole set up was great, with live music, treats and smiling volunteers made experience memorable.
We thoroughly enjoyed the museum. The exhibits were very well done - from standard photos and historical information to audio, video, and interactive activities. We live further south, and it was all railroads and cattle trails as that area was settled. Being able to take in the scale of the Erie canal project and the incredible amount of labor performed before the advent of the Industrial Age was such a great experience. Also, learning of how the building itself (once a weigh lock on the original canal) was saved from demolition, of the shameful practice of redlining, and the present-day efforts to right those wrongs was an unexpected and much appreciated bit of area history
A formerly wonderful museum that detailed the extraordinary efforts resulting in the completion of the Erie canal. Many great exhibits, including a complete canal boat from the 1850 canal era.
Unfortunately, like many parts of our society, they have given themselves fully over to self-loathing and to inaccurate and ugly historical judgments. Someone, probably someone of below average IQ who has an inflated sense of self-worth and a desire to assuage their own guilt, has gone through the museum and added plaques to many of the exhibits detailing the great wrongs that are not mentioned in the exhibit.
This is the typical response of a certain low IQ segment of our society when they come to the realization that not everything was as ideal as they would like it to be several hundred years ago. Instead of celebrating the wonderful efforts that resulted in this incredible historic achievement, they would rather spend more time talking about anything that they deem to be unpleasant.
It is disgusting and the height of ingratitude. What a sad thing that this once worthwhile museum is being taken over by this type of thinking. Do not support this by visiting. If you do visit, do not pay anything to go in.
Restaurantji Recommends
? Not the first time here. And not the last. I like it and think it should be visited.
Housed in the actual historic building that weighed the boats and cargo. You will learn a very good general history of the Erie Canal. If you like to read everything, it will take you 2-2.5 hours to go through the whole museum? (start with the bottom floor). Also, they have two hour free parking! It is in the government employee lot across Erie Boulevard (entrance from James Street). Look in my posted pictures for the signs to look out for?
Reminded me of the bytowne museum in Ottawa. Lots of information about the early days of the Erie canal. Provides a great background on Syracuse in its early days.
We were welcomed by a wonderful staff member who was clearly well informed. We did the tour by following the arrows as advised, it was perfect. There are some interactive parts and lots of information readily available.
There were spots where there were questions on dark red signs asking you to think deeper on a given topic which culminated in an opportunity to share your thoughts on the second floor.
My favourite part was the boat you can walked through. The blue dress in the second floor is a close second because of how beautiful it is.
Very well done. I also appreciate the nod to lack of representation in the museum. As they work to update and improve, they are acknowledge their weakness.
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