As friends and family visit this holiday season make a point to get them outside or take a short road trip to enjoy the Mohawk Towpath Byway. The Byway is just over 26 miles long. That’s an easy drive that can be completed before backseat participants loose interest. Have your passengers remember or imagine a time when it would take all day to travel 15 miles on the Erie Canal.

We have an excellent self-guided tour of features on the Byway. The narratives on this tour are designed to get people out of their vehicle to appreciate the specific site, but if you don’t feel comfortable telling the story at a particular site have one of the passengers in your car run the narrative on his or her cell phone on speaker. You can add your perspective to fill in any gaps or to answer any questions.

Remind people to dress warmly because they will want to get out to get a closer look at the Cohoes Falls, the engineering wonder of the flight of locks (now that they are drained and dry), or the Mohawk Harbor where locomotives were manufactured during the age of steam and tanks were manufactured during WWII.

The snow and ice has retreated from trails so you can safely walk to explore some of our historic sites. Small businesses are open along the Byway to browse for unique clothing, local foods, or mementoes.

Share the Byway and the many levels of our history.