NY State Museum Opening Exhibit On History Of Erie Canal

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The New York State Museum is commemorating the bicentennial of the start of the construction of the Erie Canal with a new exhibit on the waterway that changed America.

The exhibit titled "Enterprising Waters: New York's Erie Canal" opens Saturday at the museum in downtown Albany.

The first phase of a planned two-part exhibit will tell the story of what led to the construction of the canal, the construction itself and the "wedding of the waters" at Buffalo in 1825 that marked the opening of the completed canal.

Among the displays is a huge hoist with a 14-foot-diameter wooden wheel that was used to lift and lower heavy cargo at a canalside warehouse in the Mohawk Valley.

The first phase will be exhibited through Oct. 20, 2019.

The second phase is scheduled to open in 2018.