Please let us introduce you to the new “crew” at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail headquarters in Sackets Harbor:

Project Manager

Kurt Schumacher

Kurt is coordinating Seaway Trail, Inc.’s many exciting byway projects to benefit members and their byway communities.

Administrative Assistant & Merchandising Manager

Ms. Daryl Giles

Daryl is handling Seaway Trail, Inc. office management and merchandising duties.

Discovery Center Gift Shop & Web Technician

Nicholas Bonsack

Nick welcomes you to the Seaway Trail Discovery Center and keeps you up-to-date on www.seawaytrail.com.

We are pleased to congratulate former project manager Jeff Domansky who is a new dad. Admissions & Gift Shop Manager Peggy Morgia is pursuing new interests. Office Tech Nancy White is enjoying time with family and to garden and quilt. Membership and Ad Director Phyllis Gardner has retired to enjoy life on the St. Lawrence River, including summers on one of the 1000 Islands that has been in her family for generations.

An exciting new guidebook to 19 French and Indian War historic sites invites travelers to follow three state designated byways to forts, battlegrounds and freshwater destinations in New York and Pennsylvania.

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail has published Waterways of War: The Struggle for Empire 1754-1763, A Traveler’s Guide to the French & Indian War Forts and Battlefields along America’s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania.

Grant funding from the Federal Highway Administration has supported this first-time collaboration by Seaway Trail, Inc., Lakes to Locks Passage and the Revolutionary Byway.

The new guide debuts at the July 3-5 NYS French & Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission Signature Event at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, NY. Also look for “Waterways of War” at the July 18-19, 2009 Founder’s Day Celebration in Ogdensburg, NY.

The 44x17-inch, color Great Lakes Seaway Trail Maritime Heritage poster will ship to nearly 200 school districts in the 11 Seaway Trail counties in New York and Pennsylvania in August in time for the new school year. The colorful poster will inspire school children to learn more about the water-linked history and resources of the byway region with a timeline, trivia quiz, and interesting facts taken from the Seaway Trail outdoor storyteller interpretive panels on shipwrecks, the War of 1812, and French & Indian War. Additional copies for private schools, home-schoolers or interested children are available at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY. Contact Daryl at 315-646- 1000 x200 or daryl@seawaytrail.com for more info.

The Birding the Great Lakes Seaway Trail guidebook written by ornithologist Gerry Smith and illustrated by Bob McNamara is at the printer. The soft-cover, full-color field guide to birding hot spots along the freshwater shoreline of New York and Pennsylvania will retail for $19.95. Dealer terms are available. Call Daryl at 315-646-1000 x200 for details.

The Seaway Trail is developing two exciting projects for bike enthusiasts. The first is a Trailwide bike map that will include bike loops to points of interest off the byway. We’re currently evaluating results from our recent bike survey and acquiring additional information to ensure the needs of bicyclists are met and optimum routes are selected.

There’s no better way to determine suitable roads for biking than to actually have people out on the road. If you’re willing to help evaluate local road conditions for their suitability for biking or would like to suggest enjoyable bike routes, please contact Kurt at 315-646-1000 ext. 203 or kurt@seawaytrail.com. Printed and online bicycling maps will be available upon completion of the project.

Additionally, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail is planning to organize a multi-day bicycle tour along the byway. This event will be a fantastic way to experience the shoreline route with fellow bicyclists. If you have experience with bicycle tours and would like to volunteer to help organize the event, please contact Kurt.

The Seaway Trail Foundation welcomes Genie McKay and Pat and Ken Schwarz to the board. This trio of new directors has been actively volunteering at Seaway Trail Discovery Center events. Pat and Ken recently appeared on television to help promote the “Passing on the Comfort” exhibit. Many thanks go to Jim Fayle and Chris Rediehs, who have completed their service to the board.

Upcoming programs at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center include:

This series is sponsored by: National Grid, Key Bank Foundation, Town of Hounsfield, New York State Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Seaway Trail Foundation, volunteers, and the Dive the Seaway Trail Project.

The 15th Annual Seaway Trail Vincent J. Dee, Sr. Memorial Golf Tournament was held in June at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Watertown, NY. Captain Mike Gray of Clayton and his team of Reecy Gionet, Mike Halferty, and Brent Sweet won the event with a score of 57.

Thank you all!

The Seaway Trail theme for 2010 will be Circles and Wheels. Quilters will want to get started on their entries for the 2010 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show & Challenge. Seaway Trail Foundation Chair Pope Vickers says, “This quilt show is unlike any other in the region because it brings together quilting, artistry and the travel experience that is unique to the Great Lake Seaway Trail. For the 2010 show, we especially encourage new quilt artists to enter with a wallhanging or quilt as a way to engage the spirit of this show.”

The show features national and international quilting artists’ creations, demonstrators, vendors, and an exhibit by the Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail, a 22-mile loop tour off the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway to see more than 40 barns painted with quilt block patterns. There will be Viewer’s Choice balloting for cash prizes with a special prize for the best depiction of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail travel experience using the wheels and circles theme.

For those looking farther ahead, the 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show & Challenge theme will honor the year of 1812 during the 200th anniversary year of the War of 1812, much of which was fought along the waters of the byway in NY and PA.

More than 900 visitors came to the Seaway Trail Discovery Center to see “Passing on the Comfort: World War II, Quilts & The Women Who Made A Difference.” The exhibit made its New York debut with a 33- day stay at the center. Those making this special exhibit possible include the New York Council for the Humanities, the Mennonite Heritage Association, the Town of Hounsfield, National Grid, Key Bank Foundation. Seaway Trail Foundation board members and volunteers, the volunteer exhibit docents from the Mennonite Heritage Association and staff provided more than 300 hours of service to the exhibit, which received media coverage from USA Today Online, the I Love NY Beat, travelvideo.tv, the American Legion, NY History Blog, nyhumanities.org and byways.org.

In addition to the media coverage reported in the preceding item on the WWII quilt exhibit, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway and its destination points have received attention in 2009 in such media vehicles as Great Lakes Boating, Great Lakes Information Network, Syracuse Newspapers, New York Outdoors, X-Ray Lifestyle Magazine for Divers, getpassportforms.com, sweetwatercruising.com, Sailing, St. Catherine’s Standard, Mountain Lakes PBS, Plattsburgh Press Republican, Shipwreck World, Buckeye Boater, New York Post, Pennsylvania Wanderer, NYS Parks online, trekkingcom.com, Empire State Farmer, News 10 Now, QNNTV.com, Kingston This Week and others…

Seaway Trail, Inc.

Seaway Trail Discovery Center

Ray & West Main Streets

PO Box 660

Sackets Harbor, NY 13685,

315-646-1000, 800-SEAWAY-T