Our Associates

With over 60 organizations and more than 7,000 years of experience represented, we are proud to represent and display the pride and heritage of upstate New York.

Erie Canal Village

Erie Canal Village is an outdoor living history museum in Rome, New York. It is a reconstructed 19th century settlement on the site where, on July 4, 1817, the first shovel of earth was turned over for the construction of the Erie Canal. Visitors can ride a mule-drawn packet boat along a historic section of the 1840’s enlarged Erie Canal to experience high-speed transportation, nineteenth century style.

Erie Canal Village houses three separate museums. The Erie Canal Museum tells the story of the Erie Canal from the first proposals for improving water travel to the West through to the completion of the NYS Barge Canal System in 1918. The Harden Museum exhibits a collection of horse-drawn vehicles ranging from utilitarian farm equipment to an elegant Landaulet. The new York State Museum of Cheese, in the original Merry & Weeks cheese factory from Verona NY, explores the history of cheese making and its relationship to the importance of the Erie Canal in New York State during the nineteenth century. The first cheese factory in America was established in Rome in 1851, forever changing the industry.