July 28-29, 2017

 

 

 

 

Lakeside Beach State Park, Waterport, NY located on Lake Ontario.

 

 

 

Lockport Cave & Underground Boat Ride on the Erie Canal.

 

Our tour began at the ticket center.

 

 

And then proceeded across the street and down a flight of stairs to the Erie Canal Flight of Five locks.

Lockport’s staircase of five locks, ascending a height of 60 feet within a distance of only 550 feet, is one of the best-preserved structures remaining from the Enlarged Erie era. 

When surveyors laid out the route for the construction of the original Erie Canal, they selected the site of present-day Lockport as the location where the canal would traverse the sheer rock cliff of the Niagara Escarpment.

They designed a set of double locks, five locks lifting boats west to Buffalo and five locks returning boats east to Albany.

In 1842 both sets of Lockport’s Flight of Five Locks underwent extensive widening and deepening. 

The construction of the Erie Barge Canal resulted in demolition and removal of the southern portion of the Flight of Five, to be replaced by two mechanized locks in 1918.

The upgrade resulted in Locks being enlarged from 110’ to 329’ long and from 18’ to 45’ wide, with a combined vertical life of approximately 50’. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing on with the tour we entered a 1,700 foot long water power tunnel blasted out of solid rock in the early days of the Erie Canal to supply power to three industries.

 

 

 

 

 

The tour ends with an underground boat ride. 

July 26-27, 2017

 

 

 After traveling down one country road after another we arrived at Treasure Isle RV Park, Blossvale, NY.

 

 

We took a ride to nearby Sylvan Beach where we enjoyed a concert featuring the TJ Sacco Band. 

 

 

We finished the evening off with Ice cream and a walk on the beach.

Fort Stanwix National Monument is a reconstruction of the historic fort in downtown Rome, NY.

 

We began our tour in the Visitor Center where we signed up for a behind the scenes tour of the museum’s artifacts.

 

 

The museum collections at Fort Stanwix National Monument consist of approximately 500,000 objects.

 

 

Most of the collection consists of artifacts recovered from the excavations that took place during the 1970s prior to the reconstruction of the fort.

 

Included in the collection are military arms, clothing, hardware, utensils, furniture and furnishings from the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

 

After the tour we took the path leading to the fort.

 

 

  Known as “the fort that never surrendered,” Fort Stanwix successfully repelled a prolonged siege in August 1777 by British, German, Loyalist, Canadian, and American Indian troops and warriors. 

 

 

Monte volunteered to assist in a cannon firing demonstration. 

 

Back at the campground we took an after dinner walk on the beach.