The new Cataract Stairs and Overlook is now open at Niagara Falls. The new stairs and viewing platform gets visitors up close and personal with the falls’ powerful cascade bring visitors as close as 35 feet from the American Falls. [Read more…] about Niagara Falls New Cataract Stairs and Overlook Opens
Niagara River
Trump Changes Lake Ontario’s Federal Name; New Yorkers Are Not Amused
Last week, Donald Trump claimed to have renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America. He didn’t. What he did do – in an effort to troll our biggest trading partner – was sign an executive order (14420) directing federal agencies and the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) to use the new name: [Read more…] about Trump Changes Lake Ontario’s Federal Name; New Yorkers Are Not Amused
The Great Blondin: Frenchman Jean François Gravelet
The tightrope is the simplest of spectacles. It relies on a human aerialist strolling along the abyss. In Roman times it was called funambulism, walking on rope.
Amid the golden age of daredevils during the nineteenth century, said to be the greatest of all “rope dancers” was the Frenchman Jean François Gravelet, born in 1824. [Read more…] about The Great Blondin: Frenchman Jean François Gravelet
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
Seth Concklin: A Daring, Dedicated New York Abolitionist
Many New Yorkers before the Civil War contributed to the abolition of slavery, and the dangerous work of helping enslaved African-Americans flee their captors. Take Calvin Fairbank, a New York Methodist pastor born 1816, who spent 17 years in prison for his missions to help enslaved people escape.
Seth Concklin, a New Yorker whose name and sacrifice were more familiar in the 19th century, died tragically in 1851 while trying to help a mother and her three children escape from slavery. [Read more…] about Seth Concklin: A Daring, Dedicated New York Abolitionist
State Parks Outlines New Investments Hoped for 2026
In support of the goals outlined in Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State and executive budget, New York State Parks has announced support for several initiatives they say are designed to create jobs, enhance state park experiences, improve access to outdoor recreation and preserve state history. [Read more…] about State Parks Outlines New Investments Hoped for 2026
Fort Ontario Military History, 1812-1945
After the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), remaining friction between Britain and the United States escalated into another war in North America 30 years later.
Both countries were determined to assert control over Lake Ontario, bringing Fort Ontario to the front lines of the War of 1812 (1812-1815). Britain saw Oswego as an integral connection to New York shipyards that could support future naval battles and supply additional American ships. [Read more…] about Fort Ontario Military History, 1812-1945
Old Fort Niagara Marking A 300th Anniversary
Old Fort Niagara, one of North America’s most historic places, will host a year-long celebration in 2026 marking the 300th anniversary of its iconic “French Castle.”
Built in 1726 during King George’s War, the French Castle is believed to be the oldest building in the Great Lakes Basin. For three centuries, it has stood guard over the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario as a silent witness to the birth of nations, serving as a military stronghold, a bustling trading post, and a meeting ground for European and Indigenous cultures. [Read more…] about Old Fort Niagara Marking A 300th Anniversary
How The American Revolution Divided & Weakened The Six Nations
As tensions leading to the American Revolution developed, Native nations were divided in their loyalties to England, the American rebels, and their own alliances. Initially, Haudenosaunee Nations viewed the conflict as a civil war between colonists and chose to remain neutral.
Over time, it became clear to Haudenosaunee leaders that the winners of the revolution would ultimately be the parties they negotiated their futures with. Loyalties and allyship among the Nations diverged, weakening the overall power of the Iroquois Confederacy. [Read more…] about How The American Revolution Divided & Weakened The Six Nations
The Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812
On December 10, 1813, two New Yorkers raged at each other in the entryway of Joseph McCarthy’s store on Queen Street in the Upper Canada village of Newark, known today as Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
Soldiers held back a crowd as the ranking officer in charge of the American troops occupying nearby Fort George, Brigadier-General George McClure (1771-1851) cursed a Buffalo physician and militia captain, the forty-four-year-old Dr. Cyrenius Chapin (1769-1838). Both were part of the New York State militia assigned by the United States regular army to occupy Canada’s Fort George. [Read more…] about The Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812
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
State Protects 1,200 Acres to Protect Water Quality
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced more than 1,200 acres were permanently protected by five community-based partners through a State program to protect water quality. [Read more…] about State Protects 1,200 Acres to Protect Water Quality
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
The Movement to Save Niagara Falls
Every year, more than nine million people come from all over the globe to experience the bucket-list waterfalls at Niagara Falls State Park. With attractions like the Cave of the Winds decks and the iconic Maid of the Mist boat tour of the base of Niagara Falls, visitors can experience the power of the Falls first hand.
Established in 1885, Niagara Falls State Park holds the distinction of being the oldest state park in the United States. The creation of the park marked a significant milestone in conservation history. [Read more…] about The Movement to Save Niagara Falls
Early Upstate New York Roads: Some History
What is now New York State saw multitudes of American settlers moving inland from the Atlantic seaboard, especially those “locusts of the east” from New England. Traveling long distances overland before the 20th century was however, difficult to say the least.
In the 1600s their movement was constrained by topography, and settlements were limited to areas in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys previously inhabited or improved by Indigenous People. Some Indigenous portage trails were described by the earliest settlers as wide paths that a capable ox team and wagon could manage. [Read more…] about Early Upstate New York Roads: Some History
Robert Moses’s Imperial Niagara and St. Lawrence Megaprojects
We recently passed the 50th anniversary of the release of Robert Caro’s Pulitzer-prize-winning book about Robert Moses: The Power Broker. Exhaustively comprehensive, Caro’s monumental tome nonetheless virtually ignores one of the most fascinating chapters of Moses’s career: his time as Chairman of the Power Authority of the State of New York (PASNY) from 1954 to 1962.
While heading PASNY, known today as the New York Power Authority, the legendary New York City builder oversaw the remaking of Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River for hydropower. [Read more…] about Robert Moses’s Imperial Niagara and St. Lawrence Megaprojects
Land Conservancy Purchases 40-Acre Grand Island Property
The Western New York Land Conservancy has protected an additional 38.3 acres on Grand Island. Grand Island is the largest island in the Niagara River and the third largest in New York State.
In recent years, Grand Island has fielded a number of development requests. This property will be maintained by the Land Conservancy and be known as the Jim and Edna Braddell Preserve. [Read more…] about Land Conservancy Purchases 40-Acre Grand Island Property
Robert Land: Magistrate, Loyalist and Spy
In October of 1805, Robert Land, who was then 66 years old, penned his last will and testament, dividing up his considerable holdings in Ontario, Canada among a number of his children and providing a place for his wife Phoebe to reside as long as she might live. [Read more…] about Robert Land: Magistrate, Loyalist and Spy
The Great Lakes: World’s Largest Freshwater Ecosystem
The latest episode of “DEC Does What?!” a podcast from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, explores the work of DEC’s Great Lakes Program to protect the iconic Great Lakes, the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world.
DEC’s Great Lakes Program oversees the largest watershed by land area, working across more than 42 percent of the state’s land area and along over 750 miles of shoreline. [Read more…] about The Great Lakes: World’s Largest Freshwater Ecosystem
The Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History
Lake Ontario has profoundly influenced the historical evolution of North America. For centuries it has enabled and enriched the societies that crowded its edges, from fertile agricultural landscapes to energy production systems to sprawling cities.
In The Lives of Lake Ontario (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) Daniel Macfarlane details the lake’s relationship with the Indigenous nations, settler cultures, and modern countries that have occupied its shores. [Read more…] about The Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History