Mar 31, 2025
Canal New York Marketing & Business Alliance Erie Canal Bicentennial Luncheon:
The Journey of Canal Schooner Lois McClure to Port Byron and the Canal Shipwrecks of Seneca Lake
Presentation by Tom Beardsley and Art Cohn, brought to you by The Canal Society of New York State
Friday, April 25, 2025 * Hotel Canandaigua * Noon to 1:30 PM
Join Captain Tom Beardsley and Nautical Archaeologist Art Cohn on Friday, April 25th at noon (following the conclusion of the 2025 New York State Tourism Conference) at the Hotel Canandaigua for a fascinating look at two groundbreaking Erie Canal Bicentennial projects at the Canal NY Marketing & Business Alliance Luncheon.
Learn about the transition of the Lois McClure, a full-sized replica of a 19th-century sailing canal boat, into a permanent exhibit at the Erie Canal Heritage Park at Port Byron. Plus, get a first look at the extraordinary findings from the Seneca Lake Archaeological and Bathymetric Survey, which has uncovered more than 40 historic canal-era shipwrecks beneath the lake. Don’t miss this chance to dive into the rich history of New York’s waterways! Register now
Tom Beardsley was raised in Auburn and has been working on the Canals of New York for nearly a lifetime. Tom worked for many years with Mid Lakes Navigation Company traveling the canal system as a USCG licensed captain and interpreter of canal history. Over the years and miles Tom worked the canal in the navigation season and worked in corporate marketing events in the winter. Tom has become one of the canal system's experts and best known “characters." He has helped manage the successful Waterford Tugboat Roundup and serves as Master of Ceremonies of the Annual Antique and Classic Boat Show in Skaneateles. Tom also compiles, writes and edits an award-winning newsletter for the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society. In 2021 Tom was recruited to co-Captain the extraordinary Middlebury College Research vessel RV David Folger from Lake Champlain to Seneca Lake as part of the team to transit through the canal and then execute the survey operations that were completed in 2024. From this extremely successful collaboration Tom was recruited in 2023 to command the canal schooner Lois McClure from Lake Champlain to Cayuga Lake on the first long leg of her transition to the Canal Society of New York State. In 2024, Tom successfully navigated the Lois McClure from Seneca Falls to Montezuma where a 600-ton crane lifted the 88-foot wooden schooner from the Erie Canal, en route to her final leg of her journey to Port Byron this spring. This exciting story will be shared in the presentation.
Today, Tom is semi-retired and living in the Adirondacks. He continues to be involved in canal projects, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canal Society of New York State.
Art Cohn was born in Nyack-on-Hudson River and graduated from Boston College Law School before becoming a professional diver, underwater archaeologist, and public policy advocate for the preservation of shipwrecks. Art participated in the development of national and international legislation designed to protect underwater cultural heritage and became the co-founder and Director Emeritus of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at Basin Harbor. For more than four-decades Art’s team has surveyed, inventoried and developed management strategies for the underwater cultural collection that provides valuable new insights into human history. Art is currently an Affiliated Scholar of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Canal Society of New York State and the Clinton County, NY Historical Museum. Beginning in 2000, Art was the Project Director to construct and develop an interpretive program, through the 2018 completion of a five-month outreach partnership with the Corning Museum Glassbarge. The Seneca Lake Archaeological and Bathymetric Survey, completed in 2024, is a by-product of this five-month-long maritime journey to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Brooklyn Glassworks moving to Corning on the NYS Canal system of 1868. Art served as Principal Investigator and Tom as research vessel Captain for this successful project. Since 9/11 Art has been an active First Responder with the Ferrisburgh [VT] Fire Department, the Green Mountain Critical Incident Debriefing Team. and also serves as Fire Department Chaplain. A Justice of the Peace, Art is happily married to Saint Anne, has two wonderful children and lives in one of the special places in the Champlain Valley.