Erie Canal Museum

A small but very interesting museum. We were just passing through, and decided to check this out. We didn't know anything about the Erie canal prior to our visit. The museum is in an actual weigh-lock that was part of the canal's system of weighing barges to collect tolls. The museum consists of displays detailing the construction of the canal, and its importance, and you can walk through a barge and look at the old office. Upstairs are a few displays of the interiors of period buildings (not as interesting as downstairs). There is also a small gift shop, with a selection of books on the canal. Well worth a visit.

This place doesn't excellent job at hosting schools for field trips. They do have on hand learning hunts that are available. However, we made our own escape room hunt for our students. It took them just over 2 hours to do for middle school and they absolutely loved that all the exhibits were hands-on for them. The best part was that they could go on to the barge and they really enjoyed being able to complete the activities at different exhibits. Bringing them back next year.

Great museum, very informative with interactive installations. Two floors with a lot of cool pieces upstairs as well as a children's area. The first floor also includes a line boat to walk through. This is also the welcome center and has a small gift shop. Definitely worth the visit.