Historic Village
The Largest Living History Museum in New York State

We are a working 19th-century Historic Country Village.

The third largest in the country!

Explore our 68 buildings where 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 (and adults!) can enjoy the one-room Schoolhouse and the 19th-century games to 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:

1790 - 1820

Pioneer Settlement

From 1790 to 1820, at least 800,000 people moved into or through upstate and Western New York. Many settled in the fertile Genesee Valley.

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1830-1870

Center Village

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

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1860-1900

Gas Light District

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

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