August 6th marks the anniversary of the 1777 Battle of Oriskany. Fought as an American relief column marched to aid the besieged Fort Stanwix, about 800 Tryon County militiamen and 60 allied Oneida warriors under Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer were ambushed by British, Loyalist, and Indigenous forces (including Mohawk and Seneca warriors). [Read more…] about August 6th Marks 1777 Battle of Oriskany Anniversary
Stories About the Mohawk River
Start with this General History of the Mohawk River and follow the links to learn more or visit the Mohawk Valley main page.
New York Almanack tags help you navigate to different kinds of stories such as canals and transportation history. Change the url to find stories about other rivers: for example the Hudson, East, or Genesee River.
Historic Glen Sanders Mansion Becoming Apartment Complex
The 1713 Glen Sanders Mansion, on the Mohawk River in Scotia, NY, is closing at the end of 2026 after four decades as a catering venue, restaurant, and inn. The property is being redeveloped by Mazzone Hospitality into a 95-unit apartment complex with a ground-floor restaurant.
The newer sections of the mansion will be demolished but the original historic building will not be torn down the company said. [Read more…] about Historic Glen Sanders Mansion Becoming Apartment Complex
Recent Wildlife Rescues Around New York State
New York State Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) recently rescued six baby opossums on Long Island, and a whitetail fawn that fell down an abandoned well in Dutchess County.
They also released a previously rescued Bald Eagle along the Mohawk River in Montgomery County. [Read more…] about Recent Wildlife Rescues Around New York State
George Washington’s Lands in Oneida County
America’s first President George Washington owned 316 acres of land in today’s Town of Kirkland, Oneida County, NY, in partnership with New York State’s first Governor George Clinton.
The Oneida Indian Nation lived in what is now Oneida County, even after the area’s settlement by Europeans, which started in the 1600s. The French traveled through the area in the 1500s. [Read more…] about George Washington’s Lands in Oneida County
Driftwood Sculptor Caitlin Roben’s Artistic Evolution
If you’ve always been drawn to the timeless beauty of driftwood, you’ll surely appreciate the exquisite elegance of Hope Falls (in northern Fulton County, NY) artist Caitlin Roben’s driftwood sculptures. Roben’s work embodies the alluring mystique that beachcombers and river walkers alike savor when they stumble upon a piece of aged wood, worn smooth by the forces of nature.
A lifelong driftwood scavenger, Roben grew up on the banks of the Mohawk River in Glenville, Schenectady County. “With access to the water from my parents’ house, I was always collecting interesting pieces. Going out and searching for driftwood is fun and definitely part of the inspiration for my artistic process,” she said. [Read more…] about Driftwood Sculptor Caitlin Roben’s Artistic Evolution
Northeastern Crayfish: Tiny Predators, Big Impact
Crayfish fill my childhood memories. I spent summers playing in streams, flipping over rocks, and, if I was lucky, catching glimpses of these mysterious little creatures. Most crayfish are nocturnal and dart backwards to escape danger.
An early summer morning last year at Crystal Lake State Park, near Barton, Vermont, brought me back to these moments when I saw a crayfish along the shore in the gently lapping waves. As I knelt for a closer look, I realized I knew so little about crayfish in my backyard. [Read more…] about Northeastern Crayfish: Tiny Predators, Big Impact
Recently Upgraded Public Water Access Sites
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has expanded and enhanced several fishing and paddling access sites across the state, including those with universally accessible features.
Check out the list below for your next adventure: [Read more…] about Recently Upgraded Public Water Access Sites
Help Document New York Weather Impacts
MyCoast NY is a public web tool which offers an opportunity to contribute and access photos of flooding, shoreline change, and storm damage from anywhere in the state.
When you submit a photo, it is automatically linked to real-time weather, river, and tidal gauge data to help provide context for the photo. [Read more…] about Help Document New York Weather Impacts
‘A Terrible Death Struggle’: The Wreck of the George W. Lee
The mournful sound of the midnight ferry skittered across the Hudson River, and rain clouds spat a parting gift onto Captain John Frawley as he urged his mules northward and passed out of sight.
Over the last sixteen hours, Frawley had brought the canal boat George W. Lee from the Morgan sawmill in Glens Falls, and forty miles down the Champlain Canal to the Albany Basin, where he deposited the year’s last load of lumber. Despite the rain, his trip down had been uneventful, even getting well-behaved mules when he stopped for a fresh team in Schuylerville. [Read more…] about ‘A Terrible Death Struggle’: The Wreck of the George W. Lee
Two Kettles Together: Sarah Martin Tyonajanegen
Tyonajanegan, who Europeans called Sarah Martin Tyonajanegen or Two Kettles Together, was a mother of four who took up arms alongside her husband as their Oneida Nation chose to support the colonists in the American Revolution.
Almost nothing is known about her early life, although at least one family historian reports that she was “taken prisoner with her sister Katy from the Shawanoes, & remained with the Mohawks.”
However, she and her husband and his family had significant roles in early New York history. [Read more…] about Two Kettles Together: Sarah Martin Tyonajanegen
Dealing With British Loyalists in Johnstown During the Revolution
In January 1776, American Revolutionaries disarmed and arrested those accused of Loyalist sympathies in Johnstown, NY. Some would remain under watchful parole. Others were brought to Albany or sent out of the Province of New York for imprisonment, far from home and family. [Read more…] about Dealing With British Loyalists in Johnstown During the Revolution
Freedom for Samuel Rumples of Saratoga County
In September of 1876, a group of men led by a reporter from a Saratoga newspaper, visited the Saratoga County Poor House in Ballston Spa. Their purpose was to meet a “centenarian” who was there under the charge of Keeper of the Poor House George D. Story. [Read more…] about Freedom for Samuel Rumples of Saratoga County
Evert Wendell Account Books Reveal Life in 1695-1789
The New York Historical Society has digitized their Evert Wendell collection, including five account books in Dutch and English covering the period from 1695 to 1758 and one docket book (in English).
Evert Wendell (1681-1750) was a Dutch-descended Albany merchant, fur trader, and attorney, who conducted business with Native Americans in upstate New York and with colonists in Albany, Schenectady, New York City, and Boston. [Read more…] about Evert Wendell Account Books Reveal Life in 1695-1789
The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People
New York’s canal building boom and the urban explosion that it triggered dramatically accelerated the dispossession and disruption of traditional life ways of the region’s Native American inhabitants that had been initiated by the introduction of European trade, diseases, colonial wars, the American Revolution, and encroaching settlement by non-natives. [Read more…] about The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People
NY Severe Weather Events Increasing, Costs Soaring
A new report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found the frequency of severe weather in the state is growing, taking a toll on New York’s residents, property and economy.
“Extreme weather events are happening more and more often and inflicting financial and emotional stress on New Yorkers from loss of life to property destruction,” DiNapoli said. [Read more…] about NY Severe Weather Events Increasing, Costs Soaring
Feeding the Erie Canal: Rome Summit Level Reservoirs
All canals are a series of ponds, at different water stages, or elevations. These elevation changes are transitioned by locks, with the area between the locks being of any length, and referred to as a level. Simply put, canal transport is similar to a set of stairs, with the levels being the tread, and the locks the riser. The highest level of any canal is known as the summit level.
As water flows with any lock movement, it is necessary to constantly re-supply the canal, and by feeding the replacement water to the summit level, the entire canal may be supplied. The original Erie Canal, statewide from Albany to Buffalo, had three summit levels; Lake Erie, Jordan and Rome. [Read more…] about Feeding the Erie Canal: Rome Summit Level Reservoirs
New York State’s Canal Heritage: An Engineering Family Tree
The canal system of New York State is a complex network of natural and man-made waterways that connect two of the Great Lakes that border the state with the Atlantic Ocean. The canals also incorporate Lake Champlain and the Finger Lakes. The development of this system bridges several generations and gives the canal system a genealogy of its own. [Read more…] about New York State’s Canal Heritage: An Engineering Family Tree
Vischer’s Ferry on the Mohawk River
The explosions used to help create the Erie Canal could be heard every day for miles. They used black powder back then. On that typical day, when the shattered chunks of shale and hardpan dust cleared, two dozen grit covered immigrants, slaves, and free blacks began the task of clearing the debris.
Meanwhile, in a makeshift medical tent a hundred miles away, fifty men “sweat out” their swamp acquired malaria. Death had taken four of them earlier that morning. The pay was terrible and the job was tough. [Read more…] about Vischer’s Ferry on the Mohawk River
The Great Seneca Turnpike
Today’s State Route 5 crosses New York State from Buffalo to Albany and parallels state Route 20 and the New York State Thruway. The part of Route 5 between Utica and Canandaigua in Ontario County, some 105 miles, is still called the Seneca Turnpike.
Originally a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) path, the route has been referred to in various accounts as the Great Genesee Road, the Great Genesee Trail, the Genesee Turnpike, the Great Seneca Turnpike or Seneca Road. Previously it had been known as the part of the Great Indian Trail or Iroquois Trail. [Read more…] about The Great Seneca Turnpike
The Old Mohawk Turnpike: New York’s Road West
The old Mohawk Turnpike between what are now Albany and Rome, NY, was originally an Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) trail used frequently by Mohawk and Oneida people in particular, but many others as well.
For the first two hundred years of European settlement it was the only major link between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. It became an important national transportation connection. [Read more…] about The Old Mohawk Turnpike: New York’s Road West