Historic replica of Seneca Chief boat arrives in Syracuse to commemorate 200 years of the Erie Canal

Syracuse, Liverpool and other Onondaga County residents waited with cameras ready and whooping cheers and whistles as Seneca Chief, a full-scale replica Erie Canal boat, pulled into the dock at Onondaga Lake Park on Saturday afternoon. 

“This is a community-built boat,” Greg Dudley, the lead boat builder from the Buffalo Maritime Center, said. “Our goal is to present an objective look at the past and the present.”

The boat is on a voyage from Buffalo to New York City to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal and the original boat that first made the journey in 1825. Creating this boat was a way to celebrate community and spark conversations about the various impacts of the Erie Canal.

Dudley said the experience of being on the voyage is eye-opening, and that he likes to think of it as “taking the pulse of the community along the canal.” At every port, they stop to chat with residents about the canal’s significance and impact. 

In line, attendees anticipated stepping foot inside the boat, which held artifacts, recreated cabins and other interactive exhibits that showcased the Erie Canal’s mark on the environment, culture and economy in Syracuse, as well as Indigenous contributions. 

Photo by Mia Jones

A line extends from the dock at Onondaga Lake toward the Salt Museum as people wait to board the Seneca Chief.

Vicki Krisak and Mike DiBello, both Syracuse residents, waited to see the inside of the boat they had been hearing about for years. DiBello volunteers at the Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse, and Krisak used to work there. The two were excited to see the boat in their local community, especially since it’s made such an impact on Syracuse.

“You just don’t know what it would have been like without the canal,” Krisak said. “There was no Syracuse before the Erie Canal was constructed. It wasn’t anything.”

Speakers at the welcome ceremony, such as Erie Canal Museum Executive Director Natalie Stetson, highlighted the history of the Erie Canal: it brought both economic growth and environmental destruction to Syracuse, and land dispossession of the Haudenosaunee people. New York State Senator Rachel May also gave remarks and congratulations to the boat-building team.

“Something we say a lot at the Erie Canal Museum is two things can be true at the same time,” Stetson said.

At each port, the group traveling on the boat plants an eastern white pine tree because it’s known as the Great Tree of Peace to the Haudenosaunee. This ceremony honors Haudenosaunee sustainability and community. 

Paul Winnie of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation said despite the planting of this tree, he’d like for everyone to reflect on the need to “throw our weapons under the tree.” Indigenous groups are still dealing with the effects of land disposition and it’s important to tell both sides of the story.

“Your arguments, your ego, your judgemental things need to go under there so that we can all live in community and peace and build on,” Winnie said. 

The Seneca Chief stops at every lock and today was the group’s 11th day traveling through New York. They have visited 11 ports so far and have 22 days of travel left before their voyage concludes in NYC.