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The Largest Living History Museum in New York State

We are a working 19th-century historic country village with the largest and most comprehensive collection of building in New York State--and third largest in the country.

Explore our 68 buildings: Knowledgeable, costumed interpreters keep the hearth fires burning, the heirloom gardens flourishing and the livestock tended. Watch live demonstrations at the pottery, cooper shop, tinsmith and blacksmith. Smell the aroma of fresh baked pies and bread, roll the hoop with a stick, and test your balance on stilts.

Children enjoy the one-room schoolhouse and the 19th-century games they can play on the Village Square. You might even decide to try your hand at making a punched tin ornament.

As you stroll the village, notice that you progress through three time periods … with lifestyles growing more sophisticated as time moves forward:

Pioneer Settlement (1790-1820)

From 1790 to 1830, at least 800,000 people moved into or through upstate Western New York. Many settled in the Genesee Country.

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Center Village (1830-1860)

Rather than the scattered, self-sustaining small farms of the pioneer period, by 1830 the Genesee Country was comprised of homes that were gathered around a proper town center.

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Gas Light District (1860-1900)

The Civil War accelerated change, bringing in more mechanization on the farm and additional industries in the cities and towns.

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