The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a draft proposal for a national marine sanctuary in eastern Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River. The proposed sanctuary designation celebrates Upstate New York’s unique maritime heritage and provides a national stage for promoting the region’s tourism and recreational opportunities. [Read more…] about Proposed National Marine Sanctuary Highlights Lake Ontario Maritime History
Lake Ontario
Salmon Net Pen-Rearing Projects set for Lake Champlain, Ontario
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is deploying two new pen-rearing projects for Atlantic salmon to begin this spring. In an effort to improve post-stocking survival and imprinting to the stocked water, experimental Atlantic salmon pen-rearing projects will be conducted in the Saranac River estuary in Lake Champlain and in the Salmon River in Lake Ontario. [Read more…] about Salmon Net Pen-Rearing Projects set for Lake Champlain, Ontario
Dancing On Logs: Pulp Wood At Sackets Harbor
Located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, Sackets Harbor boasts a stellar history in the War of 1812, but this lake port holds a wealth of other fascinating stories.
After the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor nearly became a thriving lake port, but both the emerging railroads and canal systems quickly excluded the tiny village from ever becoming a Buffalo or Cleveland-size port. [Read more…] about Dancing On Logs: Pulp Wood At Sackets Harbor
Colonial Canandaigua In War And Peace
New York’s Finger Lakes Region was well known to many Revolutionary War veterans as a place of both strife and potential. Strife because of conflict with Indigenous people, and great potential for lush productive farmland.
Soldiers witnessed both ends of the spectrum first-hand. [Read more…] about Colonial Canandaigua In War And Peace
Tracking Animal Movement and Migration with Motus
The Northeast Motus Collaboration recently installed a Motus Wildlife Tracking Station on Lake Shore Marshes Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
Located on the edge of Lake Ontario, this station is the first of five that are being installed on WMAs in New York this summer to track wildlife movement. [Read more…] about Tracking Animal Movement and Migration with Motus
State Record Rock Bass Caught
2020 is off to a great start as far as state fishing records go in New York. Less than a month after a new white bass record was established, a new rock bass record was reeled in by one lucky young angler. [Read more…] about State Record Rock Bass Caught
Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario Talk At Sackets Harbor
Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario: A Journey of Discovery, a presentation by Great Lakes shipwreck explorer Jim Kennard, has been set for Thursday August 1st, 2019 at 6:30 pm, at the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site.
Kennard’s presentation includes stories of long-lost shipwrecks and their underwater exploration. [Read more…] about Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario Talk At Sackets Harbor
Widow Maker, A Maritime Tale of Lake Ontario
Susan Peterson Gateley’s new novel The Widow Maker, A Maritime Tale of Lake Ontario (Whiskey Hill Press, 2019) looks at the story of a female Lake Ontario sailor’s political enlightenment in the time of Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony, Oswego’s Dr. Mary Walker and Auburn’s Harriet Tubman.
The novel’s publication coincides with the centennial of the passage in Congress of the 19th amendment allowing the vote for women by the U. S. Congress (subsequently ratified in 1920). Much of the plot is based on actual historic events and takes place on Oswego’s waterfront in 1880 and on the open waters of Lake Ontario. [Read more…] about Widow Maker, A Maritime Tale of Lake Ontario
Sackets Harbor: On The Cliffs of Lake Ontario
Over the centuries, history unfolded in so many ways along the cliffs of what is today the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site.
The oldest story about the cliffs appears in the oral traditions of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) when the Great Peacemaker crossed Lake Ontario in a white stone canoe, landing where Sackets Harbor is located.
The cliffs played a defensive role a May 1813 attack by British and Canadian forces during the War of 1812. [Read more…] about Sackets Harbor: On The Cliffs of Lake Ontario
Spotlight: Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum
The Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum, located at 7606 North Ontario Street in Sodus Point, Wayne County, New York, has opened for its 31st season.
Built in 1870, the lighthouse was used to guide ships on Lake Ontario to safe harbor in Sodus Bay. Use of the light was discontinued in 1901, having been made redundant by an outer light on the bay’s west pier. The building now houses a museum, operated by the Sodus Bay Historical Society. Exhibitions focus on local and maritime history and include displays about lighthouse keepers’ tools, railroads and trolleys, the Erie Canal, and the War of 1812. [Read more…] about Spotlight: Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum