I got a mule, her name is Sal 15 miles on the Erie Canal She's a good ol' worker and a good ol' pal 15 miles on the Erie Canal We've hauled some barges in our day Filled with lumber, coal and hay And she knows ev'ry inch of the way From Albany to Buffalo-oh Low bridge! Ev'rybody down! Low bridge, cuz we're comin' to a town And you'll always know your neighbor You'll always know your pal If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal
There's something about this channel that keeps drawing me in. It's difficult to balance easy listening with informative content, and this guy nails it. Love this channel, and you've got yourself a new subscriber!
This was a nice WNY nostalgia for me. My family is from the Buffalo and Rochester area. You should visit true upstate NY, which is the Adirondacks. Especially during fall, it's sooooo beautiful!
I grew up in Buffalo & Rochester too, a few years in rural NY as well. Down in the southern teir. technically, everything north of Westchester county is "upstate NY", But we can nitpick about the various specific regions of NY. But I'd rather talk about my favorite parks. be sure to visit Letchworth, Watkins Glen, Chimney Bluffs (by Sodus bay, just north of these towns in this video). Every year, Rochester, home to some of the largest collections, has the Lilac festival. And those fall colors are across the entire state. But yes, the Adirondacks are quite nice as well :)
Palmyra - pronounced Pal-MY-rah is a beautiful village. (again I get youre from texas) Just a local helping you out! Thanks again for the great content. Lyons (pronounced Lions) is a very poor town and there are other poor towns around that area, like Sparta. The boat tours along the canal are pretty cool they will take you into a lock and raise and lower the boat so you can see how it works while you are cruising on it.
I grew up in Brockport, NY, one of the many villages on the Erie Canal. Too bad you didn't get that far, it is a pretty little Victorian village. It is pretty good size too as Brockport State college is there.
Thank you for sharing your experience along The Erie Canal. I feel strongly convicted to share that Joseph Smith was grossly deceived and has in fact deceived Many. The book of Mormon is false doctrine. The Holy Bible is the true word of God. Acts 2:37-40 reminds us to Repent, turn away from sin and trust in Jesus to be forgiven and you will be saved.
The address you provided is located in Newark, NY. According to the search results, there is a multi-family home for sale at 211 E Maple Ave with 5 bedrooms and 2 full baths. It has a total of 2,765 square feet and was built in 1900. The property has a lot size of 0.33 acres and is listed for sale at $129,900 1.
@@kesmarn It's just the prices in that area. There are many many small towns all over the USA like this. People are under the impression that there are no affordable homes. It's just not where they are looking and not in the popular big cities.
Funny, I was just searching your channel to see if you'd visited upstate NY yet. I know all of these towns very well. I live in the southern tier which is another area worth a visit. A lot of history in this part of the country is overlooked, some good hard working people and sadly a government that doesn't invest in the area much at all. Weather is gorgeous too, one of the nicest places in the world imo. I recommend visiting the southern tier and Hamilton, NY which is one of the most rural parts of upstate NY and arguably the most beautiful. Upstate has really suffered due to the outsourcing of jobs in this country. Endicott, Johnson City, Binghamton, and Owego where I live are all prime examples of that. Thanks for showing these little towns off since not many people will ever pass through them.
Love the channel. The home prices are low because these parts of WNY have been losing population for decades. Although the sale price is low, NY has high property taxes, and income and sales tax burden is also high. It is not uncommon for a $200K house to have $10K annual property tax. Many of these older 1900 era houses also require a lot of work, and issues like asbestos, mold, and structural challenges. It is beautiful though, especially in the summer and fall!
Thanks for bringing me back down to earth! I nearly got carried away with ideas of a small mansion and a tree lined back yard gently sloping down to the banks of the canal.
@@AZebraCrossing that still is not a bad idea. Underrated beautiful area just go in with eyes open. I'd choose a smaller house unless you have big household.
yep, they need to cut taxes in half for upstate NY or they're absolutely doomed, but the politicians don't care. They just keep chasing out the few remaining industries left there. Absolute fools
Oh my God! You are in my neck of the woods. I live in Fairport, NY, and one of the Canal towns. I tried to find a email address or contact information to see where you would be in Upstate NY. Have a moved up here from Jacksonville, Florida in 1989, this is a great community and area of the country.
FYI - Palmyra is pronounced with the "y" as a long "i". Also, I believe Palmyra is a town, but towns in upstate NY usually have a more densely populated center that's called the Village of ___, where homeowners pay an additional village tax to receive more ammenities (such as garbage pick up, piped-in water, as opposed to wells, and sewage, rather than septic tanks.) Outside a village, people pay private companies for those services (garbage disposal, emptying the septic tanks.) Many of the towns in this area (maybe all of them), have volunteer fire departments and volunteer ambulance service (although property taxes do provide funding for the vehicles and buildings to house them.) ALSO - The Wayne County Fair is held in Palmyra and this year will run from Aug 14-19. It's a very nice fair.
A great video, as always. Each of the towns were interesting, and had a really nice feel to them. The scenery along the canal is beautiful. I loved the four churches at the intersection, and I bet they look beautiful all lit up at night !! Thanks so much, Joe, a very enjoyable video.🥰
I grew-up along the towns in the Mohawk valley, (Schentady, Little Falls, Syracuse) . I wonder what those churches were back in the day. ( Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic)??? No, problem, but those were probably the congregations that built them, but the members have died off, and new congregations have taken them over and maintained them.
That’s a great town and they’ve done a great job at keeping it quaint yet letting building happen around it. Lived there in the mid 80s and my husband grew up there
No doubt the wealth is residue of the public investment in the canal over the generations. Now people are gradually leaving the smaller towns for more urban living. I am 70 and wish I could do what you are doing. Money, health, and physical ability are limits. Your videos will no doubt be an important cultural memory, perhaps long after you are gone.
I lived in Batavia for a few years, and rode my motorcycle all over W New York. I loved the Genesee River, Erie Canal, Lake Ontario and The Finger Lakes. The nice parts of New York....
Am from Rwenzori mountains Kasese Uganda, but I have never even traveled to any country but I appreciate your efforts I have tried to know some parts in US and that is my dream country to stay and work from
You are a wonderful host, and an excellent narrator of facts and history. I love watching your videos and learning about our country from you. My dad took us to Lake Erie when we were children, and the beautiful homes remind me of traveling to see my Grandma in Manistee. I love the architecture and the nostalgic feelings, but at 75 my aching bones are very content with a one level ranch style home. However, if you lingered longer on those beautiful neighborhoods and homes I would savor every moment! Your videos make my day, and the are never long enough. Thank you so much for making these incredible videos Joey and sharing your travels and adventures with us! You and your videos are an unsung National Treasure.
The confluence of the Mohawk River and the South Chuctanunda Creek was our playground when we were kids. The old tow path sits on the South Side of Amsterdam between the Mohawk and the Erie Canal ditch. The British troops used the tow path back in the 1700's. Relief units would march from Albany to Fort Oswego along this path. Fort Hunter has a great old Erie Canal state park. Great history through there. Killer video. Don't miss Amsterdam. Kirk Douglas Hometown.
Glad to see that you're OK. I was looking at the tornado coverage last night, where I thought you were, forgetting there's a lag for safety (and other) purposes. That's wild that they built the 363-mile Erie Canal from 1817 to 1825 and it shortened the shipping time from 6 weeks to 6 days and freight cost from $100 to $6 a ton! That is just amazing and nobody talks about that accomplishment anymore. It almost seems like it should be one of the Wonders of the World!
The death knell of the Erie canal was the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway. No cargo had to be transferred with the new Seaway since ocean-going vessels could fit through it. Eventually, the Seaway was made even wider. It would be awesome to boat along the Erie canal.
@@ScubaSteveCanada Oh yes, of course you're ab!solutely right! And it doesn't hurt that it goes through one of my favorite cities of all time, Montreal!
I grew up in New York State { upper Hudson River Valley } and there were not very many Mormons there. One girl in my entire High School was a Mormon and I never knew that until she was 16. Love your travel videos, by the way. This edition has made me miss New York; I've been gone a long time, since 1972.
Yeah the Mormons got kicked out of pretty much every place they set up shop (and Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois) until they got to Utah. So I doubt there are many Mormons in upstate New York (I’m not surprised by the lack of a Mormon church). Not many Christians live in Bethlehem either.
Back in the '70s I had a friend who worked on the canal at the locks near Troy, NY. Back then security was more lax than today. I spent many of my overnight hours "working" the lock with him. I'm glad you're finding my home state so intriguing! So many think of New York as only NYC. I am probably not catching you on time, but again plead you check out Round Lake -- about 15 miles north of Albany. A village like you've never seen!
New York State has a bunch of small towns, villages and some cities named after Greek and Roman sites, I am guessing because of the neoclassical craze in the late 18th/early 19th centuries, Palmyra being one of them.
Never have I ever seen an area like this! The video was mesmerizing. I especially loved seeing the dry docks! and the 4 churches on the corner and where the Mormons began. I loved it all! Thanks Joe and Nic!
Loved the video, brought back wonderful memories of a boat trip I took with my wife from Detroit to RI. We traversed the entire length of the Erie Canal, from Buffalo to the Hudson River -- it was a wonderful experience. The villages, towns and cities along the Erie Canal vary from fairly forlorn to prosperous, but most welcomed passing boats with free docks and friendly people. There was a fair amount of work involved in going through 40+ locks, but the Canals was so peaceful and scenic the trip was very enjoyable. The big houses you videoed in the local villages and towns stemmed from the fact that the Erie Canal was the equivalent of I-95 in its heyday, a commercial powerhouse. Many folks made fortunes providing various products and services tor all the commercial ship traffic, and many manufacturing plants sprang up along the canal to access its excellent shipping facilities.
We did a road trip all around upstate New York about 15 years ago and I remember the Erie Canal area well. There are some nice little towns there away from the urban blight of Buffalo and Rochester. The Finger Lakes area is nice and the town of Geneva was used in a movie as I recall, but which one, I forget ! The Adirondacks is a lovely area, but quite of population loss in the past 50 years due in part to the textile industry decline. We have the same problem in the UK inasmuch as little towns have had to reinvent themselves. A great video, which brought back a lot of memories ! Many thanks Guys.
Usually the tower on a house or the uppermost part with a room made of mostly widows is called a widow's keep or widow's watch. A section of railing on the top of a flat part of a roof is called a widow's walk. The idea being that women generally outlived their husbands and after the husband's paasing the wife could retire to these areas for peaceful contemplation and to be closer to the departed. Cool video!
I was always told that thats where the wives and children went to look out for their husbands/fathers coming home from war. Thats why Ive also heard it called a Widows Weep. So interesting!
when i was in grammar school we used to sing "the erie canal". now i know what we were singing about. "we hauled some barges in our day, filled with lumber, coal and hay and sue knows every inch of the way from albany to buffalo..."
I’m from the Albany area. Waterford, just north of Albany, is where the Erie and Champlain canals begin. This is an interesting area to explore. Believe it or not, Albany is in competition with Santa Fe and Saint Augustine as one of the oldest cities in the USA; it is older than NYC. It also was in the top ten of populated cities in the USA at one time. It has always amazed me that Route 20 was a toll road that was the entry way to the west from Albany. You were considered a pioneer if your ventured west from there. The area is so rich in history. You do great work. I enjoy watching your videos.
Thank you. Been looking for your post with the price. My little working mans home has gone well into the 200k range over the last couple years! Crazy how things change.
I live between Buffalo and Rochester in a canal town. It truly is a beautiful place to live. Sometimes I take the canal for granted because it's just always been there😂. I've enjoyed watching you guys make your way around the country. Keep up the great work!
Loved this video, from my home state, and I still live in NY 😔 n Sullivan county, home of the 1969 Woodstock Musuc and Art Fair, worth a visit. Some of the reasons for the population loss of these towns you visited, is the harsh winters, high taxes and loss of industry in Buffalo, Rochester, Utica and Syracuse, which also ripples out to the smaller towns. Very enjoyable video!
Back in 2016 I did a lengthy road trip to the east, and for the last leg before turning back west, I drove from Buffalo to Saratoga Falls, mainly on US Interstate 90. However, I did stop off in Seneca Falls to see the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum. The town was like so many of these upstate New York towns: clean, quiet, friendly, no traffic. I could see living in one of these towns during the Summer.
"During Summer" is the key! Skaneateles is a nice town at the head of Skaneateles Lake (One of the Finger Lakes). It's not too far off I-90. I used to have friends who lived outside of Moravia (Birthplace of Millard Fillmore) and loved to stop there on my way down off of I-90. But you're right, Upstate NY has many lovely small towns. We used to go camping up there all the time when I was a kid.
There is a 400+ mile bikeway along the Erie canal, goes from Niagara Falls to Albany. For many years now, in Early July there is an 800 person organized 400 mile, 8 day bike ride from Niagara Falls to Albany. The town of LYONS. Is pronounced LIONS. Palmyra. Is pronounced Pal-my-ra. Love your videos!
So glad I stumbled onto your video blog. Each of these towns have character all their own. You could use this venue to place blame and cast hatred. Instead you bring us together and give people a sense of history, community, and the diversity of our nation.
Yes housing prices are quite low because these towns and villages are so far from everything including employers. The area is economically depressed for various reasons going all the way back to the canal becoming obsolete. It is still a nice place to live and especially appealing now that remote work is available for so many.
I am from Dolgeville, New York, about 7 miles from Little Falls. You should check out the Adirondack Mountains and go to Lake Placid, which held the 1980 Winter Olympics. The Miracle on Ice! 👍
My in laws live in the adirondacks...they live in Salsbury Center and my sister and brother in law live in Stratford, the Mowhawk River runs thru their property...
@@gailweikelcorrea I know that area very well. The East Canada creek runs in that area. Which runs south into the Mohawk River near Little Falls. I used to hunt near Stratford until 2008. 👍
@@barkeater9606my family on both sides is from Herkimer/Little Falls. I was born in Herkimer. I didn't grow up there but was able to spend summers there with my grandparents. You live in a beautiful part of the world, for sure.
211 E maple in Newark Ny $129900, 5 brms 2baths and 2766 sq feet. Multi family home. I truly enjoyed this because of the Erie Canal. As a kid we learned about it, but I never saw it. Thanks for wonderful places you take us.
I loved seeing this video. The houses are going to be older and more beautiful as well as the weather being so nice at this time of year. The dry dock was really cool to see, especially with those old ships that are likely 60+ years old.
I live in waterford ny. This town is at the beginning of the canal and Hudson where the two meet . And across the bridge over the hudson is Troy ny. Waterford should Definitely be brought back to life could be a nice little first stop town. Nothing to really offer. It would be really nice if the people who run the town of waterford . Could make it look like a harbor town like something you would see in Boston. That would be great. Love living here.... If you have went all the way down the canal you would have ran right into Waterford. Good luck on your travels.
So many little almost dead old industrial towns along rivers ASO in that part of the country, really sad to see the depopulation of those places. IMO someone in many previous administrations dropped the ball on that. Mind you the very same happen over here in little old Denmark, on a smaller scale of course, but there are now parts of Denmark where you cant buy a house unless you pay it all in cash, CUZ getting a loan for a house "out" there, forget about it. PS: Denmark, mentioned by that name approx the year 950,,, so yeah old country. Also our flag, oldest one in the world still in use, and it is red - white, but no blue 👍
28:18 That green tug is the "Tug Grouper". According to the NYS Canal Corp. history: "the tug named 'Grouper' was built in 1912 by the Great Lakes Towing Company of Cleveland, OH, the Grouper is a single screw tugboat with a length of 74 feet, a beam of 19 feet 06 inches, and a depth of 12 feet. In 1957, it was converted from steam to diesel, and operates on a Kahlenberg 6-cylinder engine. The tug was originally named the Gary. In 1934, it was sold to the C. Reiss Coal Company and renamed Green Bay. North American Towing purchased the Green Bay in 1981 and renamed her Oneida. In 1987, it was sold to Wellington Towing of Sault Ste. Marie, MI and renamed Iroquois. Its original owner and builder, the Great Lakes Towing Company, purchased it in 1990, and renamed it Alaska. In 1999, it was sold to Florida Marine Terminals and renamed Grouper, but on its delivery voyage was left along the Erie Canal, where it remains, and put up for sale." (FYI, it was just sold at auction for $3,500).
Nice to see some towns that haven't died or are in the process of dying. Contrast that with many of the towns that you have shown us along your journeys.
Will you be going to Saratoga Springs? Lots of history: the place where the turn of the Revolutionary War worked in the America's favor (and a national park commemorates the battle), the summer home of The New York City Ballet, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Metropolitan Opera (known as the Saratoga Performing Arts Center), a dance museum, a horse racing museum, old bath houses (waters that were used to cure tuberculosis and discovered by native Americans), the oldest running music coffeehouse in the nation, Casino museum, a park by Civilian Conservation Corp during the Great Depression (beautiful!), a downtown park (Congress Park designed by famed Olmstead that houses a casino museum and an old carousel by Illion), and gorgeous well kept downtown and Victorian houses. It's a bit of a tourist town. You'll like it!
You were so close to where my gf is from in Geneva NY! Next time you go to upstate NY, I reccomend Geneva, Watkins Glen, Canadaigua , Auburn and Skeaneatles! Beautiful little towns.
Could listen to your videos for hours. The information you provide is so helpful in learning about other parts of the Great USA. Very calming delivery by you. Thanks for the ride!
Enjoyed another one of your videos and learning about places I have not been to. Good not to see excessive blight! I always find the statistics you tell us about the towns interesting and how you know the age or info about buildings or things you film. Rock on, Joe!
The Hill looks a little overgrown. They would have a yearly festival that would bring thousands of visitors and hundreds of Mormons to participate in the show which depicted the story of the begining of the church. Unfortunately, they stopped the yearly festival a few years ago. Next time your in Upstate NY you should travel through the Finger Lakes. I'm a Canandaigua resident...I prop up my town LOL!
Really loving these videos while watching from my home in Southern England, enjoyable and relaxing tour of your wonderful country, thank you very much for the ride.
With all due respect, crazy stuff like this is exactly why I'm leaning toward atheism. I mean this is wacky nuts. The whole thing is a mixture of science fiction and comedy. Please forgive me, folks.
Very cool. I had no idea what the Eerie canal looked like. Very cute towns. So nice it was 69 degrees for you. It's been a million degrees in Ft. Worth every day.😅
Cool fact: At the western portion of the Erie Canal in Lockport New York is found one of the widest bridges in the world at 399 feet. Yes that is the width! Pretty amazing. The length is 129 feet.
The locals pronounce the village as pal MY ruh. I love these "local" features all over youtube, but it seems like a lot of the time, the producers get their "knowledge" out of a book. To get a real flavor of a location, you've got to talk to the people. When you do that, you'll almost always pronounce the locations according to proper local vernacular. More cred for you!
I live in Newark New York I drive a transit bus through all the areas you’re showing. I appreciate your video. It taught me a lot and I’ve lived here my whole life you did pronounce palmyra wrong but that’s OK. Lol there’s a quaint refurbished theater in Lyons with a balcony and two movies were made in Lyons.
I love watching this guy! I feel like I stumbled upon gold! One day he’s going to have a very big show of his own on something like the Travel Channel and we will all say,,, “i remember watching Joe and Nic when they were just starting out on RU-vid!!” Love the facts, small towns and relaxing narrative!! Thank you! Looking forward to seeing Syracuse.. I grew up in a small town called Baldwinsville right outside it… “Anyway….”
Many many years ago I went to high school in Phoenix, near Baldwinsville. My mom and brother stayed in the area but I left at 18 for the NYC area! Spent a lot of time as a teen in Syracuse! (and later visiting my mom and brother)
Nice video of the villages along the Erie Canal. 1st village is prounanced Palm- eye- rah. Rhymes with Elm-eye- rah (Elmira, NY). I'm originally from Horseheads, NY.
I came here hoping that you travelled a little farther north through Sullivan, Madison County where my ancestor John Tobey lived before he married into a United Empire Loyalist family in Upper Canada. Oh well, these towns are very interesting nonetheless. Thanks for showing us the mythical birthplace of that most American church...
Thank you once again for being our tour guide! That was my first ever look at the Erie Canal. I was surprised to see that it is no longer used for commercial traffic. I would have to be REALLY HUNGRY to eat any fish caught out of those murky brown waters.
I live in western New York, a bit south of buffalo. Unfortunately the villages in the area I live in are not faring too well. Places like Cherry Creek, Dayton, Cattaraugus, Gowanda have all faced population loss and subsequent decline.
The reason home values are so low is because the Upstate NY economy has been shrinking for many decades. The region was the first to experience deindustrialization and has been the bucket on the Rust Belt since before that term was coined.
If you are headed down to Connecticut and want to view beautiful 19th and early 20th century churches and the most architecturally beautiful city hall, I recommend my hometown of Waterbury. The latter part of the 20th century has not been so kind to her, but the churches, monuments, train station and government buildings reveal a splendid history.
Be glad to get that much where I live but don't pay over 2000.00 a month for rent or expensive bills like you all do either are income is around 30,000 to 53,000 a year and after taxes you are lucky to bring home 2000.a month .
Where someone lives is only a part of the problem, what type of consumer you are is also a big factor, for example a $40-50 pair of gym shoes work just as well as a $200 pair of Air Jordans, a $1 coffee is just as good (or better) than a $5 Starbucks cup.
