Dying NEW YORK Villages Along The Ruins Of The Erie Canal

I visited these rural, Mohawk Valley New York towns: Little Falls. Herkimer & Ilion.

Travel Vlog 338

[wyldmoonwoman]

I live in Little Falls. I relocated in 2010, sold my home in Saratoga for 300k, paid $40, 500 cash for a beautiful Victorian with good bones. I did 50k in cosmetic renovations. My taxes are cheaper here, I live comfortably. It was the best move I ever made.

[chipmctiernan]

Thank you! I was born in Little Falls in 1963. My parents were both born there. My grandparents on my moms side had emigrated from Poland just prior to WWI, And my dads from Ireland during the potato famine. My dad worked for the utility then known as “Niagra Mohawk”. We moved in the mid 1960’s to Glens Falls NY, as my dad was transferred by “NIMO” but traveled to LF quite a bit since we had family there. LF was still quite alive in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s claim to fame other than the NYS Canal System, was manufacturing. All those big old factories made items that were used in WWII. It is a beautiful place, and up on the hills where the mansions are, are homes that were owned by industrialists who built the city. The place still reeks of history so thank you for the video tour.

[andrew]

The Erie Canal and the corridor really have great bones. No new boom-town can recreate a historic and walkable mainstreet.

[MaryAnnMaher]

Thank you for bringing us this wonderful video! My father sailed on the Erie Canal and I was raised along the Hudson River. I absolutely love every single part of the flora and the fauna of New York. I miss the wonderful days when everything was thriving. This is like losing my best friend and it was important to see this video. Thank you!!!

[roberthubbard]

I was born in Herkimer, my moms parents were from Little Falls, We moved from Herkimer to Florida in 1966, I can remember that the down town was busy back then and there were lots of factory's too. I walked by the old jail on my way to school at L W Bills every day! You should have turned left after the school, the nice houses are to the west of there. I won my first science award in that school as a first grader; it took a while but I have received U S patents for medical device products! It all started there in that elementary school! Brings back memories, !!

[somerandomvertebrate]

I'm European (Swedish), but I must say I love these American Victorian homes. Such amazing architecture.

[PaulBCISSP]

I drove cross country from San Diego to Boston one July. Did Route 66. This part of New York was the prettiest part of the whole drive.

[rodnokken]

Thanks for being honest, Joe. What you say is true; the place is beautiful but economically done. My wife and I grew up in Little Falls in the 50's and 60's when it was a beautiful place. Then we moved around for a few years and settled in Herkimer for 30 years and watched the village fall apart. We have moved to a new location of relative prosperity and refer to the Mohawk Valley as the place where everything is rusty, dirty, or broken. As other commenters have noted, taxes are killing our beloved state.

[be]

Upstate NY, this is what I miss. Picturesque greenspace, lovely old houses and mansions, peaceful walkable downtowns, great Sunday driving areas so to say. I loved to get lost upstate then. It is still beautiful, just aged and neglected and in need of good old fashioned care and attention. It’s too bad the towns lost so much population that was important to the life of these towns. I still dreaming of going back to upstate to driving through small towns and reminisce about days when the towns had more life but the beauty is definitely unique to ny. That’s what I miss.

[garys]

Dated a girl that went to Utica College in the 80s when I lived in NYC and visited a few times. Central NY and the Finger Lakes region is stunningly beautiful.

When the St. Lawrence Seaway opened, it killed every town situated on the Erie Canal.

[harmonizedigital.]

the Erie Canal was dug. It was a monumental engineering project that involved excavating a channel across the state of New York to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie. The canal was constructed from 1817 to 1825 and was considered a remarkable feat of civil engineering at the time.

The construction process was labor-intensive and required the manual labor of thousands of workers, including many Irish immigrants. They used shovels, wheelbarrows, and horse-drawn carts to dig the canal, which was originally 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The canal stretched approximately 363 miles (584 kilometers) from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on the shores of Lake Erie.

The project also involved the construction of numerous locks, aqueducts, and bridges to manage changes in elevation and allow for the passage of boats. The Erie Canal's success dramatically reduced the cost and time of transportation, spurred economic growth, and played a crucial role in the westward expansion of the United States.

[prophetmargin]

Upstate New York has so many beautiful towns!

[betz]

I live close to Little Falls on a country road with homes with 2-15 acres. It's a wonderful place to live. The basics are in place. The bane on the small towns in upstate NY are the out of area investers. They buy "investment properties" on the cheap and don't maintain the buildings. I'd say 50% of the homes are rentals owned by out of region folks. There is a lot of poverty. All the manufacturing jobs have left. Upstate NY is full of opportunity for manufacturing location -- inexpensive properties and lower cost lifestyle.

Upstate is cursed by the taxes/obligations put on us by Albany and New York City.

The grey building is an active bank -- Adirondack Bank. Little Falls also has a nice small hospital part of the Bassett system.

[DRAGONSsz]

Beautiful video. Watching here in herkimer NY . at 350 pm you almost showed my house. First time watching your YouTube. Just showed up on my screen.

[mamasinger]

Beautiful little towns, and the houses are stunning. Makes me wanna cry about that old elementary school boarded up. Such a beautiful building, I hope something is done with it and it's not left to rot. I also love how graffiti is practically non-existent. Thank you again for the wonderful tour and history, beautifully filmed as always.

[anjaphoenix]

we've done about 15 road trips all over the USA in the past 35 plus years and we remember staying in the Adirondacks in up state New York, what struck us back in 2006 was the the urban decay in some of the little towns dotted around the southern edge of the Adirondacks. It was obvious that prime industry had moved away or shut down in recent times. We're from the UK and have exactly the same issues over here as you guys have in the States. Keep up the good work, as so many videos you've shown are from exactly the same areas that we've visited.

[annenyman]

Upstate NY is really a beautiful area. So sad to see it in such a depressed state.

[critterscute]

Beautiful natural areas and those homes are gorgeous! Great job Joe 👍

[RobOlgatree]

It's Saturday and Joe and Nicole are on the airwaves. So nice to see you today. Good news isn't always easy to find. Sadly, when people think of New York they think of the city, these beautiful old towns and villages were just as important. I love seeing history through your lens.
Little Falls, New York is a real gem and seems lost in time. Thanks for taking us with you Joe

[everydaypresent]

Beautiful little towns in upstate NY. Thank you for another engaging view of places I will likely never see in person.