The Seneca Chief boat will be commemorated Saturday at Canalside

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Seneca Chief is commemorated Saturday, the bicentennial of the Erie Canal.

The Buffalo Maritime Center benefited from the help of more than 200 volunteers who dedicated their time to rebuild the 73-foot-long, 40-ton boat in time for the bicentennial in 2025.

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“There are a lot of clichés that explain this. Bite off more than you can chew or the dog catches the car. You know, there are a number of phrases and aphorisms like that. It’s proven to be true ” said John Montague, Founder of the Buffalo Maritime Center.

The Seneca Chief Boat is the center’s community construction project that began in 2019.

The boat will become a living museum and will make the same journey as the boat of the same name made in 1825 from Niagara Falls to New York in September next year.

But it will first undergo sea trials until the fall of 2025.

“When you look at Buffalo as a whole, as a city, we are a maritime city. We are the Queen City of the Great Lakes. This boat belongs here and I hope when people come down here they see it. ” said Brian Trzeciak, executive director of the Buffalo Maritime Center.

This boat floats today thanks to the 200 volunteers who dedicated hours, days, months and years to its creation.

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“Teachers, plumbers, accountants, lawyers and university professors, it was a complete mix of painters, carpenters’ unions and children, and bringing them with them and after you’ve done something like that, you look at the quality of this thing and it’s just incredible.” said Roger Allen, the center’s master boat builder.

As the ship heads toward New York, it will stop along the way to teach people the history of carpentry skills and shipbuilding across cultures.

Chief Seneca’s ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place Saturday at the Commerical Slip on Canalside.

“I came here from Florida and, you know, there, the weather keeps you warm. But in Buffalo, the people keep you warm,” Allen said.

You can learn more about Chef Seneca here.