National Historic Landmark Comes to Buffalo for Holiday Weekend

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo is taking a trip back in time to the late 1800s with a ship named the Lettie G. Howard.

She made the trip from Erie, Pennsylvania.

The 91-foot-tall, 54-ton vessel arrived in western New York state Friday afternoon.

The Lettie G. Howard, known as the Tall Ship, was met by the Spirit of Buffalo, Buffalo’s flagship, and moored at Canalside.

After the ship departed, 7 News’ Pheben Kassahun decided to go aboard and learn more about the 131-year-old vessel.

“She’s over 100 feet long and over 100 years old. She’s a pretty fun wooden vessel, 2 mass, and it’s great to have a schooner visiting town,” said Rich Hilliman, owner and operator of Buffalo Boat Tours in Kassahun.

A National Historic Landmark and the last surviving vessel of its kind, “Lettie” is a Fredonia-style wooden fishing schooner built in 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts.

“It’s great that they chose Buffalo to come visit us because we have a great waterfront, and secondly: the tradition of sailing on tall ships and these old traditional wooden boats, everyone should have the opportunity to see them,” Hilliman added.

She honors the bison with her presence this July 4th weekend.

Lettie G. Howard Captain Sam Dinsmore said, “As a nation, we have a strong maritime heritage. A lot of our infrastructure is based on shipping and ships and we’re trying to preserve the traditional shipping skills of ships like the Lettie G. Howard and bring them to places like Buffalo so we can reach more people.”

Lettie was accustomed to fishing off the coasts of the Northeast Atlantic and the Gulf.

Today, Captain Sam Dinsmore said the ship is used primarily for navigation, accommodating about 30 people, and as a training vessel.

Captain Dinsmore said: “We take trainees on board, usually for two weeks, to teach them how to sail and what traditional sailing is like.”

Tickets for the races are all sold out, but you have the opportunity to take advantage of the Saturday departures.

Lettie will, however, be traveling to Erie, Pennsylvania, for boating and excursions from July 9-18. Tickets go on sale Saturday, July 6.

Captain Dinsmore said: “For our tours, you come on board. It’s on deck and you can kind of walk around and see the highlights of the Lettie’s deck layout and some of the equipment that’s period, if you like. You can ask questions and interact with the crew.”

“You just show up, get in line and get on the boat. Every time the line is cut, they go around, come back and you’re the next one on the boat,” added Michele Cicatello, Buffalo Waterfront’s marketing manager.

The large ship will be the main attraction at Buffalo’s Waterfront this weekend, just in time for people heading off on vacation.

“It was a historic looking sailboat, like a pirate ship. To us, it’s not really what you see a lot. When we saw it, we were like, ‘Wow, Buffalo, NY. We were able to bring that in.’” shared Buffalo resident Mike Sullivan.

Buffalo resident Susan Uba added: “It’s unique, it’s beautiful and the masks are beautiful.”

Lettie will be cruising and running tours rain or shine, so don’t let a little bad weather put you off when you’re at Canalside!