Lockport has three good hotel/motels. Visitors to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and the lake district often find substantial advantages staying in Lockport, less than 30 minutes from their destinations. Safety is one issue. Lockport is away from the danger so often encountered at lodgings in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls urban areas. All hotels here are located in safe neighborhoods and have a reputation for safety and integrity. Our first recommendation to you is for The Comfort Inn since they help support our community website. However, we know you'll be pleased with any we have listed in our Looking At Lockport section.
Lockport got its name from the impressive locks
on the canal! The Lockport Canal District
is the city's top tour attraction. When the canal is filled with water during
the May through October period, there's just nothing else like it in the northeast!
Yes, there are inside activities available, but you owe it to yourself to pick a day
without rain to spend here. Then you can easily have an entire day of enjoyment
without hurry.
There is a boat tour, but do plan on comfort clothing because you'll
want to walk. Most of this area is easily and safely accessible, not may not be for
the physically handicapped. You'll want to consider the boat tour at Lockport Locks & Erie Canal
Cruises (210 Market Street) as a starter. Then there's a tour of the
underground complexes of Old Industrial Lockport --- it's so much like a cave, that's what
they call it. Topside there's plenty of room to sit and watch boats go through the
locks and walk or hike along the historic towpath. Some folks sit down and fish
while watching the Lockport Hydro Station generate electricity. There's several
areas to hunt fossils. You may tour the Canal Museum right down by the water.
Ask for the free Riley's Way tour brochure that guides you in a walking tour of
the downtown portion of the Lockport Canal District.
Parking is free throughout the downtown area. Shopping and food
are here. The famed Niagara
Historical Museum campus is just a five minute walk away.
Lockport is the surface for hundreds of thousands of fossils. Even after all these years, most folks can find one or more within an hour. Lockport rock formations are easy to study and are an attraction for students of geology. Rock study is so big here we have a separate Cyber Museum of Rocks, Minerals & Fossils that shows local specimens and gives all the details. If this is your interest, please click the blue hyperlink to go to our cyber museum which displays specimens and shows you where to go to see for yourself.
The Lockport - Niagara Falls area has an unusually large number of superior fine dining establishments. There is a restaurant for most cuisine, cultures, and budgets we can (and do) recommend to you. We know you don't want to risk disappointment in this important area. We have the top ten dining destinations in Lockport reviewed for you here --- plus a few of the places of special interest. We normally don't review national chains since you have your own experiences. Go to Lockport Dining Destinations. A new, New York State law, that bans or greatly restricts smoking in public restaurants is scheduled to go into effect in July 2003.
Drinking is still another matter. If you like to drink, you can go broke staying long in Canada with their very high alcohol taxes. Prices in Lockport are modest compared with many spots even in the USA. All the restaurants we have reviewed can provide you with fine beverage service.
For some, sometimes, there is a desire to walk on the wild side. Lockport was built mainly by the Irish and descendents here still know plenty about hearty drinking. The Irish no longer host any of the wild drinking establishments, and Lockport lacks a major league "party bar." A lively, safe favorite for travelers is the bar at the Best Western Inn. There are several "sports bars." There are many friendly old- fashioned neighborhood bars with a local following. There are also three places that are a bit dangerous to drink. Your own warning signals will alert you before you go through the front door that these places are too crude for Lockport. Trust those signals.
We often consider that when folks are on vacation they are looking only for "special" attractions --- not available to them back home. And we're often wrong! For those who wish to take a break from the special and extraordinary, Lockport has plenty of everyday entertainment for the enjoyment of adults and children. We've compiled a directory of entertainment primarily to remind residents and would-be residents all the Lockport area has for daily pleasures. But you're welcome to scan it to see if anything suits your mood or fancy while here. This list is undergoing revision and is presently off-line.
The Kenan Center Gallery features year around, rotating exhibits. Check our Events Page to see what is now on display or, just stop by the Victorian mansion itself at 433 Locust Street. Gallery hours are afternoons 2-5 p.m. daily. The gallery and mansion is on the grounds of the home of the late William Rand Kenan Jr., the Lockport financial tycoon, industrialist, scientist, and philanthropist with an international reputation.
A significant advance for art in Lockport was achieved in 2002 with the development of the Market Street Galleries in the old Western Block Building along Market Street, right across from Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Tours. Here one can visit 20 or more studios with individual art for sale and rotating exhibitions in the main lobby. Open most weekends and tourist-friendly hours.
Downtown, Frames By Ames at Main & Market Streets has some local art on display and sale. Reproductions and other other original art and photographs of a local nature are on sale at many of the downtown gift shops.
Lockport's premier museum is the Niagara County Historical Museum headquartered at 215 Niagara Street, about a five minute walk from the Big Bridge in downtown's canal district. Actually the museum consists of an entire campus of buildings reflecting early life in a canal town from Indian days to Industrial days. The museum is open Thursday through Sundays, 1-5 p.m. and admission is free (donations accepted).
Opening new in 2003 is the Lockport Heritage Center a large historic industrial building from Lockport's past. It's located next to Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises at 210 Market Street.
The Lockport Canal Museum is right down by the locks and is open daily during daylight hours during the summer. A guide is there to explain the exhibits. Free admission.
The Lockport Cyber Museum of Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils is an on-line museum. After you tour it you may wish to go out on a "hunt" yourself. The museum pages and staff will point you to all the right spots.
On the northwest
corner of Lockport is a rare jewel of nature. Lockport's Gulf Wilderness Park is New York State's only full nature preserve on the Niagara
Escarpment. If you're into flora, hiking, fossils, wildlife, and rock study you'll
love this true wilderness environment. Our separate website gives full details plus
a map and tour guide. Just click on the blue hyperlink above. Another such
destination is Lockport Nature Trails
out in the Town. Our Lockport
Outdoors page has information for those who enjoy walking, biking, and camping.
For those who like to hike and bike Lockport's outstanding asset is the
canal towpath, located in our Lowertown district along the northwest side of the canal.
This very popular path can take you for miles. Another wonderful place to
walk is the city's giant Outwater Park with numerous changes of
scene and a spectacular overview area where, if the air is clear, you can observe all the
way north to Toronto, Canada.
Of special note in Lockport is the Kenan Formal Gardens, behind the Kenan Center at 433 Locust Street.
The city operated Goehle
Widewaters Marina is along the canal off Market Street in Lowertown. Canoes to
cabin cruisers can be launched or tied up here.
Fishing (minor league) can be found along the canal at Widewaters and
near the Hydro Station at the Lockport Locks. Big League fishing is less than 30
minutes away in Lake Ontario to the north including charter boat service. But,
unless you really want to "rough it" and aren't fussy about your eats, the
lakeshore is not a recommended overnight destination.
Lockport has thirty (30) parks of all sizes. The major ones with
special attraction have been featured on our Parks Page Pictorials. For picnics, parties, playing, plants, and
photography...Lockport parks have something for everyone!
More than
movies. Even on vacation some wish to take a movie break. Lockport, of
course, can accommodate that wish. Eight screens run at the Lockport Mall. A
nearby drive-in has two more. And the city's downtown has the Historic Palace
Theatre which, when not running live stage performances often runs movies on The Big
Screen.
The Historic Palace Theatre is the home stage for Curtain Up
Productions a resident production company that puts on several live stage
performances per year. The Big Stage at The Palace---one of the few truly grand
Art-Deco showplaces of the 20th Century---backed by superior production facilities, gives
an enormous potential for stage productions and other events at this venue.
At the Kenan Center, still another professional-level group, The
Four Seasons Players performs several theatrical productions, many from international
sources. The venue is the small, intimate staging of the Taylor Theatre at the Kenan
campus on Locust Street.
Two commercial tours, both mentioned in our
Canal District section are well done. One is an outstanding boat tour (Lockport Locks & Erie Canal
Cruises) which includes good background narrative on the canal. The
"cave" tour is actually a look at the Lockport industrial man-made underground
from the 19th century. Also mentioned previously is a self-directed walking tour of
the downtown Lockport canal district.
During the July 4th through Labor Day period, a city-subsidized
bus tour of the entire Lockport City area with a narrative is offered. The price is
$5 adults and $2 for children. The
"Tow Path Trolley" stops at about 15 locations around town, with
departures about Noon and 3PM.
The Lockport
Mall on the city's south side (Transit Road) has all the expected offerings of today's
enclosed mall shopping centers. Another shopping area is in the city's downtown.
For those seeking something different we can recommend
to you the following (all in or near downtown):
Coinery, 6 Main Street. Coins, stamps, metal detectors and certain other collectibles.
Frames By Ames, Main and Market Streets. Lockport pictures, framed art, photos.
Mills Jewelers, Main Street near Pine. This is a real jewelry shop. With a goldsmith out back and the friendly Lockport boosters out front. They sell all over the country through their website and word-of-mouth. The Lockport Pendant is among featured items which they designed and manufactured.
Grimble's Hardware Store. West Main, just west of the Big Bridge. You don't find hardware stores like this around elsewhere today. They have all today's items plus those from yesterday you may have thought were no longer made or needed. It's an experience to walk though, even if you don't need anything! They even sell Lionel Trains!
Outwater Emporium in the main building at the Niagara County Historical Museum campus, 215 Niagara Street. Historical items, books, art, post cards, photos, children's items, quality souvenir items from all over Niagara County.
Looking At Lockport - A general backgrounder on Lockport. Especially designed for those thinking of moving here.
The Lockport History Home Page. -Lots of links to Lockport history, pictures, stories etc. It's the most comprehensive history source about Lockport on the web. And we're just beginning!
The Lockport Parks Pages. - Lockport has over 30 parks. We're featuring a new one every week or so. Plus links to all our historic monument pictorials are here.
Lockport Secondary Attractions. While these attractions have not yet obtained a full write-up at this website we're happy to point you in their direction if your interest is there.
Lockport Homes & Neighborhoods. -Nice and unique neighborhoods plus beautiful homes and mansions. You may wish to drive these areas, then stop and walk.
Fatima USA Niagara County #2 Tourist Attraction 25 minutes from Lockport. More than a major religious shrine it's acres of scenic beauty for retreat, relaxing, and reflection. Bring your camera.
Crossing The Border With Canada. - Tips and straight talk on how to make a trouble-free border crossing.
The Niagara Power Vista A great view of the Niagara Gorge and educational exhibits on hydropower.
Old Fort Niagara Just 30 minutes from Lockport Center City, 300 years of history...and a day of fun!
Niagara Falls, American Side. - Niagara County's #1 tourist draw, up-close...and powerful.
The Herschell Carrousel Museum - Less than 30 minutes from Lockport Center City, it's over 50 years back in time.
Hundreds Of
Pages Of Lockport News
The Lockport Home Page is a community website operated by mostly lifelong Lockportians who are available to help you with more specific information than contained in our hundreds of on-line pages. Thousands of folks visit us weekly for news, photos, reference material, humor, viewpoints, history, memories, and advice. We've been providing this service since 1996 and most of the answers have been published online by now.
If we've missed something you need to know, we'll help if we can. Inquire by e-mail to our Tourism response address: Info@Lockport-NY.com Sorry, we do not have funds to send any material out by s-mail.
When you message to the Lockport Home Page you're reaching friends at home; not a business. We're not affiliated with industry, labor, education, or political groups. Not a front to promote or sell anything. Not an out-of-town (or out-of-state) entity that has set up a cyber address or rented a tent in Lockport. We try to tell everything as we see it. And with a combined hundreds of years of living in Lockport and the Niagara Frontier, we've seen most all of it.