Dying NEW YORK Villages Along The Ruins Of The Erie Canal

Joe & Nicole, you guys are way cool! Thanks for sharing your journey with the rest of us. Your presentations are smart, clever and insightful with your total respect for the towns and cities you visit.

Spent many hours fishing and hiking along the canal in my younger days. Honestly, if it weren't for the poor economy, bad winters and high taxes in upstate NY, I might consider moving back there someday. It really is a beautiful place once you get out into the farm land and wilderness areas.

I lived in NYC for 20 years from 1998-2018. When zip car came out, my friends and I would pool our money together and take long rides all over upstate NY. These villages and towns are some are the most gorgeous places you will ever visit. Several are right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Many do not love the city folk coming up with all their fashion and self importance, I don’t blame them. American spirit and beauty all around. The land of the great Haudenosaunee Confederacy! History is felt in all these little towns and stretches of forest. If you visit NYC, take a short trip up the Hudson and you’ll see some of these beautiful towns.

Like I said in your last video you are a top speaker on this YouTube if not the best. Such incredible content in your videos. Love just sitting back and enjoying. Only thing that makes your videos better is your wife adding her spin on things. Thank you for letting us come along your journey.

Really nice video. Most Americans don't even realize that Philadelphia was our biggest city and the major destination for most immigrants before the Erie Canal opened. The canal was the gateway to the west. It made New York City what it is.

Chester Gillette was my great-great grandfather! Wow!! I always heard stories about him!

Dutch citizen here, I saw a lot of Dutch names,streetnames etc(Roosevelt, van Gansevoort street, etc) nice 👍🏻

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.

I grew up in Amsterdam. I know the Mohawk Valley well. I have ancestors buried in all of those cemeteries, my wife does as well.

👍Maybe the camera didn't capture the beauty; but the name is resounding -- 'The Mohawk River' -- and it brings out a feeling of a 'noble savage' and his bravery and mennace amid the history of those surrounding, heavily forested hillsides. The gray and lowering 'gunpowder smoke' skies, too, are evocative of musket-n-tomahawk wars 👍

Upstate New York has so many beautiful towns!

These old towns are amazing ! Fascinating history, and I love the old photos ! So many beautiful old buildings and homes. Cat sighting, awesome ! Thanks so much, Joe and Nic, a very enjoyable and interesting video, as always !😊💚

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

Really interesting, Joe. I once stayed overnight in Little Falls and I said the same thing you said in the video - a place, and a region, that has a lot of potential. Beautiful housing stock and interesting downtowns.

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

Thanks Joe love your videos. I’m a current Texan but lived in Ilion NY for 20 years…watching my old town made me sad. Thanks again.

As always , your videos are insightful, educational, and most entertaining..Happy Trails to you Joe & Nicole.❤❤

Little Falls is a Beautiful small town with nice 🏡 . The small river is nice as well too. The home's have lovely color too them. Pete's Village the is very beautiful . Yeah WE are quiet expensive upstate N.Y. No one really talks about upstate that much ONLY The 5 Boroughs , Long Island and N.Y.C gets the most talk but upstate does have amazing homes as you will Joey. It's been long while since we'd seen a 🐈right 🤗. Pete's 🍕 was quite the place . Sorry you had too see that school 😞. But at least the homes are increbable 😁. My comment is 😌 back to what is was somewhat I watching the video on MY smart T.V. which is GREAT so what happened . Well when my phone turned off it had erased what i've writing . So now im writing everything ALL over again buddy 😊.

Thanks for the virtual Mohawk Valley tour...I've driven through the area on 1-90 but didn't have time to linger. Love the shot at 1:30 with the brick buildings and the bridge in the distance--as Liz Lemon would say, "I want to go to there". Seeing the canal, the first thing that comes to mind is Pete Seeger singing 🎶I scarcely think we'll get a drink 'til we get to Buffalo.🎵. I had to smile at you calling the big brick house on Main St. a "fixer upper", I think possibly a more apt term would be "money pit" 🙂 Trivia tidbit about Crazy Otto's Diner -- it's a prefabricated unit, one of over 400 built in the 50s by Mountain View Diners Company of Little Falls. See you next time, happy trai

Love the quirky, boxy homes in Little Falls. Cute as can be! The town reminds me of a beautiful aging lady. It's easy to see what it has been. It was nice to see the kitty on the banister. The light pole in the middle of the sidewalk in Ilion has GOT to have some interesting to tell. LOL It was good to see the Erie Canal. It's much wider than I ever expected from the drawings in my history books long ago. Thanks for the tour, Joe. Going to watch again and look closer at the boxy houses!