Weekend Trip to Buffalo: Town Steeped in Tradition from Baseball to the Erie Canal

The word is out for seniors: Buffalo’s mix of food, sports, culture, and art makes the Empire State’s second-largest city a worthwhile weekend destination. Here, delve into the 200-year history of the Erie Canal. Studios, museums, and architectural creativity abound. The warmer months (April through September) are usually best for a visit, and do check to make sure that where you want to go is open. It’s easy to get around the city by car, car service, or local transit (ride all day for $5).

And if you hurry, you might even be able to snag tickets to Paul McCartney’s ”Got Back” tour. He’s skipping the NYC metro area but is playing at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Nov. 14.

Sports?

The NFL Buffalo Bills are part of the mix, as are the Sabres, the NHL pro team. They aren’t the total sports package, though.

The unique sports treat worth watching in Buffalo is the 150-year-old Buffalo Bisons, a AAA minor league affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Herd, as they are known, play in 16,660 seat Sahlen Field, the largest in minor league baseball, with 14 of its past team members enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The stadium, designed by HOK, crafted the almost identical, larger Camden Yards stadium for the Baltimore Orioles five years later. An exciting three-hour home game against the Charlotte Knights saw Straus News there firsthand. There will be plenty more home games during the season, up to Sept. 21.

Tip: The fried bologna, peppers, onions, and mustard sandwich there is a must.

How does a lifelong local feel about this team?

Brad Bisbing has been a fan since his parents took him to his first Sunday Bisons family-day game as a young boy. “That first game, the sight, the players, and the excitement hooked me forever as a Bisons fan.” Brad has worked for the team for 18 years and is now the assistant general manager.

The spirit of Buffalo is like that.

Visit the Canalside District

It’s the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, and the city’s water-borne commerce has been a part of its history since its founding in 1810. The Canal, constructed from 1817 to 1825, has 83 locks to rise and lower barges along the 360 miles to Albany. The Canalside “Waterway of Change” exhibit celebrates the influence of the Canal on Buffalo’s history. It highlights the diverse perspectives of communities (Indigenous people, Blacks, women) affected by the canal, in view of water and a pleasant green space.

At the nearby Buffalo Maritime Center’s Erie Canal Boat Seneca Chief exhibit, gaze upon a replica of the boat that first traversed the Erie Canal upon its opening in 1825. Until late September, pay a visit. Then, a Buffalo Maritime Center crew of staff and volunteers will navigate the 33-day voyage, departing from Buffalo, and docking at 28 towns and cities along the Erie Canal and Hudson River before reaching Manhattan’s Pier 26, open to the public on Oct. 25 and 26.

At the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, close to the other two sites, four decommissioned Naval vessels, USS The Sullivans, USS Little Rock, USS Croaker, and PTF-17 are yours to look at. The first three can be walked through to see what real vessels looked like inside and out, with the Vietnam-era PT boat an outside display. On the two ships open to visitors, expect a bit of walking and climbing up and down, and small passageways on the Croaker, a WWII-era submarine (a boat, in naval terminology) with stairs up and down.

Also part of the mix is the Veterans memorial garden, two fighter aircraft, a military helicopter, and a tank. The visitor center there has a museum, an indoor-outdoor cafe and a gift shop. This attraction is open through November, and then starts up again in late March.

Interested in Art?

Besides the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, chronicling the work of Charles E. Burchfield and Western New York artists, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum across the street was founded in December 1862; Buffalo resident and former President Millard Fillmore was among the incorporators.

By 1900, Buffalo had the most millionaires per capita in the world, and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition World’s Fair encompassed the idealism and material wealth of the city. Philanthropy enabled what was the Albright Art Gallery to open in the current neoclassical main building in 1905, one of three on the campus, where works from artists Monet, Van Gogh, Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, and Anselm Kiefer part of its huge collection. The newest building, the Gundlach, showcases contemporary artists. A restaurant and a unique gift shop make for a wonderful year-round art outing in a scenic location.

Additional galleries and art studios are spread out throughout the Buffalo area to enhance artistic inklings.

Buffalo by Foot

With 120 different tours available, Explore Buffalo offers year-round views at a sidewalk level of different neighborhoods of the city, indoors and out, throughout the year, Usually $20 or less, the tours range from architecture to sports, and offer an engrossing, well-documented introduction in many disciplines.

This reporter took a morning “Best of Buffalo” tour, a lively walking tour of highlights of Buffalo architecture and history. The buildings included on this overview tour help to tell the story of Buffalo’s rapid rise. Buildings by Louis Sullivan, Louise Bethune, Daniel Burnham, and Minoru Yamasaki (whose building eerily resembled the Twin Towers) were on the walk, a mile and a half retrospective of almost 200 years of Buffalo’s rich and diverse history.

Something to Eat, Maybe?

Hungry? In addition to a wide range of American and ethnic cuisines (ranging from Italian to Lebanese), Buffalo has its own foods: beef on weck, which is thin-sliced roast beef served on a salted hard roll with caraway seed; Buffalo-style pizza, a hybrid of a Chicago deep-dish and New York thin-slice; and spaghetti parm, spaghetti covered in mozzarella cheese, accompanied by a side of marinara sauce. The favorite here, though, is “wings.” Just like New Yorkers and their favored pizza place, Buffalonians will debate about the best place to have wings.

One person who fits both worlds is Tom Fontana, who grew up in Buffalo, graduated from Buffalo State University, and now lives in the West Village.

Fontana, screenwriter, television producer, and playwright, was happy to share his Buffalo thoughts.

On the subject of wings, he noted;

“When I was a young boy in Buffalo, my father was a salesman. One of his stops was the original Anchor Bar; he knew the founders of the home of the original Buffalo chicken wings. I love the place. It evokes old-time Buffalo. But my go-to place now for wings is Gabriel’s Gate in Allentown (a neighborhood close to downtown).” This reporter, having been to both locations, would readily concur.

Another intriguing dining spot would be Southern Junction, in the Lower West Side, close to the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra’s Concert Hall. The restaurant fuses Texas barbecue and Indian cuisine; the owner grew up in India and moved to Texas, then set up shop in Buffalo. Examples? Brisket biryani or the barbecue foldie (paratha, an Indian flatbread, filled with smoked and pulled beef shoulder, embellished with caramelized onions, garam masala, and a coconut curry sauce.

Lodgings?

As in other major cities, the usual array of chain hotels is available all over the city, but, you might want to consider lodgings with more green space and less corporate branding.

You would do well with InnBuffalo off Elmwood, a 13-room mansion bed-and-breakfast in the tree-lined Elmwood Village neighborhood, set on a local tree-lined street. An outdoor seating area, a secret social area, a huge breakfast room serving continental breakfast and snacks throughout the day are available, sans elevators. Many dining spots are a short walk away.

Alternatively, there’s the 88-room Richardson Hotel, set on more than 40 acres of historic green space, a campus designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.The hotel offers 88 rooms in an updated 1870s building, with elevators and a fitness center. A restaurant offers dinner and Sunday brunch.

The Wright Thing to Do

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, whose Manhattan Guggenheim Museum was one of his last commissions, designed over 1,100 projects in over 60 years, with fewer than half constructed during his lifetime.

You can visit five of them today in the Buffalo area.

The 1905 Darwin Martin House was built for a local executive and is part of a campus of three Wright-designed buildings. Its dramatic design, green spaces, exterior, and interior make for a worthwhile visit to observe the earlier work of Wright, arguably the greatest American-born architect.

1931 Graycliff, a 40-minute drive (no public transportation available) was designed for Mrs. Isabelle Martin as a summer home. The house sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie on an 8½-acre estate, and will give an excellent view as to how Wright’s ideas had changed over 25 years. As with the Martin House, you will need to be on a reserved, guided tour.

Also, Darwin Martin rests at The Blue Sky Mausoleum, a 2004 iteration of an almost-100-year-old plan of Frank Lloyd Wright’s. Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo built this as a tribute to Wright and Martin. Trolley and walking tours are available at that location; check their calendar for details.

Wright designed a unique gas station to be built in downtown Buffalo in 1927, but it was never completed. Jim Sandoro, founder and executive director of the current 100,000-square-foot Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum, bought the rights in 2002, and 12 years later, the striking Tydol Filling Station was unveiled, fully built, under cover, for all to see and experience. Sandoro, a huge automobile buff, told Straus News the original intent was to put the station outside on the grounds of the museum, but Buffalo winters would not be good for it.

Under the waterfront shadow of the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo with Fort Erie, Ontario, lies another resurrected Wright project: the Fontana Boathouse.

The Boathouse is named for Tom Fontana’s parents—Charles, a high school rower who coached a local rowing club for 40 years, and Marie, who was also involved with the club. Wright designed the plans in 1905 for a never-built University of Wisconsin boathouse. A local preservationist and attorney, John Courtin, was instrumental in finding the boathouse plans and orchestrating its completion.

Tom Fontana received a call from Courtin and other lifelong rowers, who were coached by his father. “They . . . needed a major donor. I’ve been enamored of Wright all my life. . . . When I heard it was his boathouse, I was stunned!” He sent the money, the boathouse was built, and is now used by many, a fitting tribute to his parents.

Fontana gives us a great summation of this proud city on TomFontana.com:

“Buffalo is all about its people. The people of Buffalo have led to the development of characters in my work and the stories I like to tell. Buffalo has spirit and fire. It’s a great place to visit—especially the waterfront—on a summer or fall excursion. Buffalo is the true heart of America. Here, you’ll find what’s great about our country.”

Further information? https://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/