Locktender’s Garden Erie Canal Museum

Construction on the Erie Canal began in 1817 and the trade route transportation system from Albany to Buffalo was officially opened in 1825. This feat of civil engineering fostered a population explosion in western New York, opened regions farther west to settlement and helped New York City become the chief U.S. Port. The Erie Canal Museum, a National Register of Historic Places location, opened to the public in 1962 with a commitment to preserving the only existing weighlock building in the country and interpreting the rich history of the Canal through high quality exhibits, programs, publications and education.

The 1991 Founders Fund Award went to create a typical Locktender’s garden at the Museum. This garden featured a typical 19th century kitchen garden with an apothecary of herbs and flowers. The Syracuse Garden Club accomplished this by building raised beds of annuals, perennials, vegetables and herbs authentic to the period in which the lock system flourished (1825-1900.)

The Erie Canal Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums, is visited annually by thousands of visitors and through its collection of Canal material and educational programming promotes an awareness of the Canal’s transforming effects on the past, present and future of the region. The Locktender’s garden is tended to each year by members of the Syracuse Garden Club and is an integral part of the visitor experience to the museum.