Replica of famed canal boat will be back in Orleans this week
Seneca Chief will be open for tours on Wednesday in Holley, Thursday in Medina

Photos by Tom Rivers: This group gets a ride on the Seneca Chief replica boat last year as part of the commemorative bicentennial journey of the original Seneca Chief that took Gov. DeWitt Clinton across the entire newly constructed Erie canal in 1825. The photo shows the replica boat headed east as it passes though Eagle Harbor under the lift bridge on Sept. 26, 2025.
The Seneca Chief will be back in Orleans County this week with the public welcome to take free tours of the boat when it’s in Holley on Wednesday and then in Medina on Thursday.
The vessel is a replica of the boat that took Gov. DeWitt Clinton on the maiden voyage across the newly built Erie Canal in 1825, going from Buffalo to New York City.
Volunteers at the Buffalo Maritime Center worked for four years to recreate the Seneca Chief. The 73-foot-long replica received great fanfare last year as part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Erie Canal.
The Seneca Chief is on a three-week “Back to Buffalo” journey. The boat left Waterford on June 6 and will reach Buffalo on June 27. It will be in Rochester today and Tuesday before heading west. It is scheduled to reach Holley and be open for tours at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Holley will have food vendors – Red Osier Lands & Lobsters, Dottie’s Lemonade, and Red, White and Moo. People are encouraged to park at the former Save-A-Lot store’s parking lot and then head to Holley’s Canal Park. A band comprised of Holley students – PSA-Public Service Announcement – also will be performing.
Holley elementary students – Robbie Weit, Vivian Applegate and Timothy Hendrickson – have been selected to board the boat in Brockport and ride the canal to Holley, Mayor Mark Bower said. They will be joined by their parents, Murray-Holley Historical Society President Dan Mawn and Village Historian Raymond Santoro.
The schedule in Holley includes:
- 3 p.m. – Seneca Chief arrives at Holley Canal Park
- 3:30 p.m. – Welcome ceremony
- 4 p.m. – Visitor experience that is open to the public. Music starts and food vendors open.
- 7 p.m. – Visitor experience public hours end
The Seneca Chief will depart Holley at noon on Thursday and head to Medina.
The event schedule for Medina includes:
- 3:30 p.m. – Seneca Chief arrives at Medina Canal Basin
- 4 p.m. – Welcome ceremony
- 4:30 p.m. – Visitor experience that is open to the public
- 7 p.m. – Visitor experience public hours end
Visitors checked out the inside of the Seneca Chief on Aug. 12, 2024 when it made a test run of its bicentennial journey. In August in 2024, the boat went from Buffalo to Rochester and back.
The Buffalo Maritime Center said the boat’s keel, frames, and other structural timbers were made of white oak. The keelson was a single 60-foot-long piece of reclaimed Douglas Fir.
The center says this about the wood in the boat:
“The planking consisted of two layers of 1-inch-thick cypress with a waterproof dynel cloth set in epoxy between the layers. The outer layer of planking was caulked with cotton in the traditional manner. This combination of modern and traditional planking methods was designed to help the boat stay watertight even if it spent winters out of the water.
“All of the bolts used in the backbone structure were forged in the BMC’s own machine shop by a crew of volunteers. This crew also produced several specialized tools and hardware needed to build the boat.”
The Seneca Chief is shown passing under the Main Street lift bridge in Albion last year on Sept. 26.





































