Museum Name: Historic Palmyra
Schedule: All year tours by appointment
Established: 1843 incorporated in 1967
Address: P. O. Box 96, 132 Market Street Palmyra, NY 14522
Phone Number: (315) 597-6981
Fax Number: (315) 597-6981
Email: bjfhpinc@rochester.rr.com
Director: Bonnie Hays
Website: www.historicpalmyrany.com
Focus: All aspects of American and New York State history. Erie Canal history and original artifacts, fabric art history featuring coverlets and quilts, the largest collection of hand woven coverlets in America. Tools used during the pioneer days up to the specialty tools used in the art of carpentry in America
Ages: pre-school to adult
Costs: $2-$5.00 per person
Class Trip Programs: We offer specific areas of tours from walks on the Erie Canal to the study of the underground railroad. We had two specific locations that were used in the underground railroad. We can offer New York State, local and artifact history depending on the focus of the class. Program takes about 1-1/2 hour to visit all museums. We call this our Museum history trail along the Erie Canal
Class Trip Pricing: K-5 $2 per students with grade 6 - 12 $3 per student. Adults $5 per person

Major Exhibits
Three historic buildings from 1826 to 1901. Buildings built to serve the business from the Erie Canal. Wm. Phelps Store is a three story General Store and home above with all original products and furnishings from 1868-1976. 108 years of family life and business. Adjoining is the Palmyra Print Shop featuring printing presses made in Palmyra and shipped on the Erie Canal. Platen printing presses from 1860-1890. The history of the local newspaper from 1838-1970 featuring type blocks, litho stones, all types of printing materials and type. Interactive typewriters, calculators (1920 models) and photographs.

The Palmyra historical museums features 22 rooms of pioneer history to the present day. Household, dress, military (Civil War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Spanish American War being the home of Admiral Wm. T. Sampson hero of the battle of Santiago in the SAW. Artifacts from the 33rd, 111th, 1st, 8th, and many others during the Civil War. Books, pictures, paintings, furnishings, antiques, police, canal, and fire department history. Toys and dolls as well as household items, medical items, and organizational items.

The Alling Coverlets has over 360 coverlets and 170 quilts that feature the art of hand weaving on a jacquard loom (the first computer). Local weavers, political periods, natural colors and dying as well as rug samples, quilts from the underground railroad history to the 1997 governor quilt made by the local 4th and 5th grade class.

2006/2007 Exhibits
We are completing our Palmyra 1820 - 1840 exhibit featuring the history of Palmyra and the Erie Canal. All museums featured items from that period making the theme complete and unified. Original day books kept by merchants, doctors, and farmers, family bibles, dishes, silverware, and household items. The 2007 exhibit will be featuring more of the same.

This is an incredible study in the history of America and all parts of its freedoms and issues. Palmyra was a frontier town and the west before the movement to the mid-west.

Industry, Erie Canal, and military and business are shown in this community which depicts the average successful American community.

Businesses through inventions that began during the Industrial Revolution and are still active and vital in America. The Erie Canal revitalization and rebirth is visible in Palmyra as an example of restoring the past to improve the future. We pride ourselves on showing the real thing.

The original buildings, the original artifacts, still in their original surroundings. Palmyra has kept the small town American Community alive and original. It is truly a step back in time. The old and the new combine and work together