The Great Lakes Seaway Trail is one of America's Byways and is recognised for its unique landscape, scenic fresh-water coastline, and historical significance. This National Scenic Byway parallels 518 miles of shoreline along the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River, and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania. 

Massena is the eastern end of the Great Lakes Seaway trail, and a small town on the St Lawrence River. Hundreds of ships make thousands of trips through the St. Lawrence Seaway pass between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. They all travel through the Eisenhower Lock in Massena, where they are either raised or lowered nearly 40 feet, depending on which direction they are going. You can watch the lock system do its job while guides explain the process. 

From the lock you can also reach Robert Moses State Park through a tunnel under the Eisenhower Lock. The park has a variety of trails through fields, forests and wetlands, some of the best fishing in the Northeast and some spectacular views. You’ll also get some great views from the observation deck at the NY Power Authority's Hawkins Point Visitors Center on the St. Lawrence River.

Stay one night in Massena.

Start your journey along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, stopping in Ogdensburg, NY home to the Frederic Remington Art Museum. Perhaps most widely known for his bronze sculptures, he is one of America's most respected 19th century painters and illustrators who often used his beloved North Country as subject matter. Continue west along the signed highway system enjoying the views of the St. Lawrence River and Thousand Islands to Alexandria Bay. Take a boat tour of the islands and stop at Boldt Castle, learn the Gilded Age Love Story of George and Louise Boldt and how this wealthy New York City hotel owner wished to create a symbol of his love, hear and see what happened.

Stay one night in Alexandria Bay.

Sample some New York State wines at one of the many wineries in the region, including the Thousand Islands Winery, located on a farm that was established in 1836, you can sample the Alexandria Bay Rosé and other fine award-winning wines. 

At the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton take the tour including 1904 houseboat LaDuchesse among 200 antique utilitarian to luxurious boats or keep going and take a wooden skiff out on the river and get some exercise. Continue west to Oswego to the Safe Haven Museum & Educational Center by Fort Ontario. 982 adult and child refugees from Nazi terror stayed at the site from 1944-46. 

Stay one night in Oswego.

If your visit lands on one of the six weekends each summer for the Sterling Renaissance Festival you will think you are in 1585 Warwick, England but actually you will be in Sterling, on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. If maritime history is your favourite, see Sodus Point Lighthouse, it was built in 1871 to guide boats in and out of busy Sodus Bay, now a sailing and fishing paradise. For an alternative experience walk Chimney Bluffs State Park to see the amazing land forms of rocky shoreline and solid spire bluffs. 

Continue on to Rochester, which has a great collection of places to visit. Try George Eastman House, a Georgian-Revival Mansion, a photography museum, art cinema and luscious gardens. The National Museum of a Play at The Strong includes an indoor butterfly garden, and will dazzle kids of all ages. 

Stay one night in Rochester. 

Take a loop around and count the quilt blocks on the Country Barn Quilt Trail starting in Kenall at Partyka Farms. Cobble stones were gathered to build structures from 1825 to 1865; today the Cobblestone Society Museum in Childs shows you a collection up close. Follow Lake Ontario west along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail to where the Lake meets the Niagara River and see Old Fort Niagara with its French Castle dating to 1727. No trip to Niagara Falls would be complete without venturing up close to hear the magnificent power of the falls on the Maid of the Mist. 

Stay one night in Niagara Falls. 

Take a ride on an old-fashioned carrousel in North Tonawanda at Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum in the world's only carrousel museum. Then get out of the car and walk, bike or kayak around Erie Canal Harbor and explore Buffalo's role as "Gateway to the West". Climb aboard the ship at the Naval & Military Park to see the country's largest inland floating history museum. Continue west along Buffalo's skyline and the Great Lakes Seaway Trail to see Darwin Martin's country home Graycliff designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Stay one night in Buffalo

Did you know there were 28 lighthouses along the 518-mile Great Lakes Seaway Trail, see the Dunkirk Historical Lighthouse & Veteran's Park Museum. Stop along Lake Erie Wine Country, several wineries are on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, start at Sparkling Ponds Winery in Ripley and head west to Pennsylvania. In Erie, PA don't miss the Erie Maritime Museum and Brig Niagara and end your week at 3,200-acre sandy peninsula that arches into Lake Erie, Presque Isle State Park, a magnificent seashore for that one last swim, hike or bike ride. 

Stay one night in Erie.