Potsdam and Canton

Potsdam and Canton are the two college towns on US 11 west of Malone, ten miles apart, with four colleges between them. Potsdam is about 48 road miles from the cabins and Canton about 59, a little over an hour and about an hour and a quarter. Go for a free Crane School concert, a red sandstone downtown on the Raquette River, a county history museum in a senator's house, a folk arts center and shop, and a campus art gallery, with a good dinner before the drive back.

The drive west on US 11

The route is simple. From the cabins, local roads (Brown-Benoit, Trail and Brick Church) lead out to County Route 25, Duane Road, which runs north about six miles and becomes Duane Street as it enters Malone. At West Main Street turn left onto US 11 and stay on it. The first stretch is Malone's commercial strip, then the road runs west through open country for about 37 miles to Washington Street in Potsdam. Canton is another 10 miles on, where US 11 becomes Main Street. In all it is about 48 road miles to Potsdam village, 49 to the Clarkson campus and 59 to Canton and the St. Lawrence University campus.

Plan on a little over an hour to Potsdam and about an hour and a quarter to Canton, with a few minutes more for slower stretches through the villages. Fill up in Malone if you are low; the stations on the strip are listed in Getting to the cabins, which also covers US 11 as the way in from Watertown and Syracuse. For a winter trip, the winter driving guide has what to keep in the car. From Canton, NY 68 runs north to Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence, so the two trips can share a long day.

What is on the way

West of Malone, US 11 crosses the Franklin County towns of Bangor and Moira, then enters St. Lawrence County about 26 miles from the cabins. It is farm country the whole way, with the road passing through the village of Brushton, about 21 miles out, and on through Moira.

A string of state historical markers in the Town of Moira tells its story a sentence at a time: the site of the town's first starch factory, built in 1851 by Colonel C. A. Stone and Captain William A. Tupper; the Union Church, raised about 1833 by Christian and Methodist Episcopal congregations, which its marker calls the first church in the county, with the present church built in 1867; and, about two and a half miles north of Moira on NY 95, the site of the home of Luther Bradish, lieutenant governor of New York from 1838 to 1840 and speaker of the Assembly in 1838.

Across the county line the road runs through the Town of Lawrence, formed in 1828 from parts of Brasher and Hopkinton and named for William Lawrence; its first settler arrived in 1801. US 11 passes two of its eight hamlets, Taylors Corners and Coteys Corners, about 27 and 30 miles from the cabins, and the last 15 miles run on to Potsdam.

Potsdam and its red sandstone

Potsdam sits where US 11 crosses the Raquette River. What makes the village look the way it does is Potsdam sandstone, a colorful stone, mostly red, laid down as beach sand about 520 million years ago and quarried along the river south of town. Captain Nathanial Parmeter first quarried it in 1800 for his own house on the Hannawa road, and builders took it up after the Parmeter quarry opened south of the village in 1809. The Potsdam Public Museum counts the village's first sandstone building as the shop built in 1821 for Liberty Knowles and Sewall Raymond at 30 Market Street, on the corner of Elm, raised by the mason Anthony Furness as a test of whether the stone would serve.

It served. The early houses were laid in the slab-and-binder style, which had faded by the 1850s; seven slab-and-binder houses still stand, all built before 1840. Rough ashlar, stone cut in rough blocks, was first used in the Potsdam Normal School of 1867 to 1869 and became the style of the larger buildings that followed. The Clarkson family owned the quarries nearest the village, one opened in the 1820s on the west bank near the present Sugar Island dam and another on the east side in 1877. The stone left the county too: the museum records that Potsdam sandstone went into the Parliament buildings in Ottawa in 1869 and into the All Saints church in Albany.

A short walk among the stone buildings

Most of what you want to see is within a few downtown blocks, and a walk of an hour covers it.

• Market Street. The Charles Cox Building at 5-7 Market Street, dated 1888 on its facade, and the Zenas Clark Building at 17 Market Street, from 1835, stand on the downtown blocks. The John Wallace House, 1828, is at 99 Market Street and is on the National Register.
• Elm Street. The John Call House at 10 Elm Street, from 1823, was the first house in the village built of sandstone, laid in coursed rows; the Elks Club has owned it since 1960. The Presbyterian Church of 1868, at Lawrence Avenue and Elm Street, was built in rough ashlar.
• Fall Island. Trinity Episcopal Church, built in 1836 on Fall Island in the river off Maple Street, was laid in slab and binder; its facade and chapel were added in rough ashlar with stone the Clarkson family gave in the 1880s. The Clarkson Land Office of 1901 is at 17 Maple Street on the same island.
• Park Street. The museum's own building, the First Universalist Church of 1876, stands at the corner of Elm and Park.

The museum's website keeps an illustrated sandstone timeline and a sandstone map with many more addresses, and it is the place to ask about any guided walks.

The Potsdam Public Museum

The museum was founded in 1940 and is a department of the Village of Potsdam, run by an independent board of trustees. Since 1976 it has been in the old First Universalist Church, built of sandstone in 1876, which the congregation gave to the village for a public library; the library used it from 1940 to 1976. The building has been part of the Civic Center at 2 Park Street since 1933.

The collections run from the 18th to the 20th century, almost all of it given by local families: quilts and textiles, World War I and II material, Native American items, china, the Burnap Ceramics Collection, a collection from the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, and a good deal on Potsdam sandstone itself. Exhibits rotate; past and current shows listed on its site include "Dressed for Duty," "Furs, Feathers, & Fashion," "Exploring Fall Island" and "The Raquette River: Past, Present, Future." Researchers can use the archives and library; the museum asks you to call or email ahead so staff can have documents ready.

• Hours. The museum lists Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. Check before you go, since hours shift around holidays and winter inventory.
• Admission. The museum's site lists no admission fee; call (315) 265-6910 to confirm.
• Parking and access. Parking is free in the municipal lot behind the Civic Center. From the lot, there is an elevator in the lobby just inside the entrance. Public restrooms are by the police station entrance.

The Raquette River in the village

This is the same Raquette that paddlers know far upstream at Tupper Lake, covered in The Raquette River from Tupper Lake. In Potsdam it drops over a dam in two spans, one on each side of an island in the middle of downtown, and the best view of the falls is from the end of Raymond Street.

Fall Island is the island downtown with Trinity Church and the old Clarkson Land Office on it and the river on both sides. The museum has a whole exhibit on it, "Exploring Fall Island," and the walk from Market Street across Maple Street takes a few minutes.

Sandstoner Park, at 43 Pine Street (NY 345), sits on the river beside the village's Pine Street Arena. Potsdam has had summer swimming beaches at Sandstoner Park and at Postwood Park in Hannawa Falls, with lifeguards when the recreation departments can staff them. The town and village have since split their joint recreation department, so check with the Town or Village of Potsdam for the current season before planning a swim.

The Saturday farmers market meets in Ives Park, 3 Riverview Drive, downtown; days and months are in Farm stands and farmers markets.

SUNY Potsdam and the Crane School of Music

SUNY Potsdam began as St. Lawrence Academy, whose charter was signed in Albany on March 25, 1816, which makes it one of the first 50 or so colleges in the country and the oldest institution in the State University of New York. Its first home was a one-room schoolhouse. It became the Potsdam Normal School, training teachers, in 1867, the Potsdam State Teachers College in 1942, and part of SUNY in 1948. The Crane School of Music dates from 1886, when Julia E. Crane, a music teacher, founded the Crane Normal Institute of Music to train public school music teachers; the state bought it in 1926 and made it part of the college. Crane hosts more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts a year.

Going to a Crane concert

Most of Crane's concerts are student ensembles and faculty recitals in three halls: the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall, the Snell Music Theater and the Proscenium Theater. The 2026-27 season opened with the faculty gala on September 8, a concert the university announced as free with the public invited. Most performances start at 7:30 p.m.

Crane's fall 2026 list, as posted on its concert page, includes these evenings among many others:

• October 23: Crane Wind Ensemble, Hosmer Hall.
• November 5: Crane Symphony Orchestra, Hosmer Hall.
• November 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. and November 15 at 3 p.m.: the Opera Ensemble, Proscenium Theater.
• November 18 and 19: Crane Concert Band, then Crane Symphonic Band, Hosmer Hall.
• November 21: West African Drum and Dance, Snell Music Theater.
• December 6: Crane Candlelight, Hosmer Hall.

Dates move, so check the Crane concert page or the SUNY Potsdam events calendar (filter for the Crane School of Music) the week you come. Most concerts also stream live on Crane's YouTube channel, which is a pleasant way to hear the program on the cabin's wifi if the weather keeps you home.

Clarkson University

Clarkson was founded in 1896 by Elizabeth, Frederica and Lavinia Clarkson and their niece Annie in memory of their brother, Thomas S. Clarkson, a businessman who died in 1894 after a quarry accident. It opened as the Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial School of Technology, became Clarkson College of Technology in 1912 and Clarkson University in 1984. Its first building, Old Main of 1896, is Potsdam sandstone, and Woodstock Lodge, built by Augustus Clarkson in 1827, stands on the campus. The main campus covers the 640-acre wooded homestead of the Clarkson family, about 49 road miles from the cabins, and the university enrolls more than 4,000 full-time students.

Golden Knights hockey at Cheel Arena

For most visitors the reason to go to Clarkson is Division I hockey at Cheel Arena. The men's 2026-27 home schedule, posted on Clarkson's athletics site, includes Canisius on October 16 and 17, Vermont on October 25, Niagara on October 30 and 31, Union on November 6 and RPI on November 7, then the ECAC weekends in winter: Brown and Yale on January 8 and 9, St. Lawrence on Saturday, January 23, Colgate and Cornell on February 5 and 6, Quinnipiac and Princeton on February 12 and 13, and Dartmouth and Harvard on February 26 and 27. Friday games are mostly at 7 p.m., and times change, so check the schedule. Tickets are sold online through the athletics site, and the arena has its own ticket office. Clarkson against St. Lawrence is the local rivalry, which St. Lawrence calls the Route 11 Rivalry; this season's weekend is January 22 and 23, with the Saturday game at Cheel. The drive back to the cabins after an evening game is a little over an hour.

Canton, the county seat

Canton is the seat of St. Lawrence County, about ten miles on from Potsdam on US 11, with the Grasse River running through the village and the St. Lawrence University campus on its edge. Main Street holds the county museum, the folk arts center, restaurants and the new brewpub, all within a short walk of each other. Canton's second college, SUNY Canton, the State University's College of Technology, has its campus on the Grasse River within walking distance of downtown.

Frederic Remington, the painter and sculptor of the American West, was born in Canton in 1861; his museum is downriver in Ogdensburg, covered in Ogdensburg and the Remington Museum. Canton's golf course, the Appleton course beside the university, is in Golf courses near the cabins.

The Silas Wright House and the county museum

The county historical association, which since 2024 calls itself the St. Lawrence County Center for History and Culture, runs its museum, gift shop and archives in the Silas Wright House at 3 East Main Street. The house began in 1833 and 1834 as a two-room cottage built by Moses Whitcomb, an early settler. In 1834 Silas Wright, then a United States senator, and his new wife, Clarissa Moody Wright, bought it with several acres running down to the Grasse River, and over the next ten years they enlarged it in the Greek Revival style with a kitchen, an entry, parlors and bedrooms upstairs. Wright had opened a law practice in Canton as a young man. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1833 until he resigned in 1844 on his election as governor, served as governor of New York in 1845 and 1846, and came home to his Canton farm after losing reelection. He died in 1847, Clarissa in 1870, and his brother Pliny lived in the house until 1890.

After that the house had a long second life: the Universalist Church bought it in 1890 and added a second floor and porches, in the 1930s it was a boarding house and restaurant called the Tea Cozy, and in the 1950s and 1960s it was the church's parsonage, with a pizza parlor in the old livery. The historical association, formed in 1947, bought it in 1973 and 1974, restored it and opened it as a museum in the late 1970s, and the Red Barn addition of 2000 and 2001 made it fully accessible for the first time.

The museum is small, and the center suggests about an hour for a visit. Its stated aim is to collect, preserve, research and share the history of St. Lawrence County, and behind the exhibits it keeps a public research room with genealogy help, a Civil War database, historic newspapers and maps.

• Hours. For September 8 to December 31, 2026, the museum and gift shop have reduced hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Saturday to Monday. The usual season, April to December, is Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. From January to March the museum is closed for tours, and the gift shop and research room open by appointment.
• Admission. $5 for non-members; members and children 12 and under are free.
• Parking and access. Free parking is behind the house, next to North Country Savings Bank, entered from Main Street or Court Street. The Red Barn entrance at the back has a ramp and an elevator; the front entrance has steps.
• Programs. The center runs talks, workshops and evening events through the fall; its calendar lists them with prices.

TAUNY and the Folkstore

TAUNY, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, is the North Country's folk arts organization, and its mission is to explore, share and honor the traditions of everyday life in the region. The TAUNY Center at 53 Main Street in Canton holds its galleries and its shop.

The Main Gallery, in the Grand and Upstairs Galleries, carries exhibits on North Country folklife, and the Spotlight Gallery shows one artist at a time. The TAUNY Folkstore sells the work of more than 200 North Country makers: pottery, woodwork, jewelry, textiles and more, in person or online. It is the shop to visit for a gift that comes from the region.

TAUNY also runs workshops and community events through the year. Its fall 2026 calendar lists a harvest dinner, quilling and sourdough bread workshops and a pastry demonstration at the center, and the North Country Fiddle Orchestra's final performance with a community barn dance on the afternoon of Sunday, November 15, at the Presbyterian Church in Potsdam. The center does not post standing hours on its home page, so call (315) 386-4289 or check tauny.org before you go.

St. Lawrence University and the Brush Art Gallery

St. Lawrence University was chartered by the State of New York on April 3, 1856, as a Universalist seminary and college of letters and science; its founders raised $9,000 in pledges from nearly 150 community members to bring it to Canton, the county seat. The university calls itself the oldest continuously coeducational institution of higher learning in New York State. Its first building, Richardson Hall, is on the National Register with Herring-Cole Hall, and the campus buildings from before 1930 form the Old Campus Historic District. Scarlet and brown have been the school colors since 1876. The campus address is 23 Romoda Drive.

The Richard F. Brush Art Gallery

The university's art gallery sits between the Griffiths Art Center and the Noble Center on campus. It is free and open to the public during the academic year and closed during university breaks.

• Main gallery hours. Monday to Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. The hallway gallery is open every day from 7 a.m. to noon.
• Fall 2026 shows. From October 19 to December 11, 2026, the gallery shows "It's a Process: Prints from the SLU Permanent Collection," "Dogs and Monsters" and "Baren 100-B."
• Before you go. The gallery asks visitors to call ahead to confirm dates and times: (315) 229-5174.

Saints hockey at Appleton Arena

St. Lawrence plays Division I hockey too. The Saints' 2026-27 schedule has a Tuesday home game against LIU at Appleton Arena on October 20 and the ECAC opening weekend at home against RPI and Union on November 6 and 7, and Vermont at home on Thursday, December 10. Later in the winter come the Route 11 Rivalry weekend with Clarkson on January 22 and 23 and a four-game home stand against Cornell, Colgate, Princeton and Quinnipiac. The full schedule, with times, is on the Saints athletics site.

The Grasse River and Canton's islands

US 11 crosses the Grasse River just west of downtown Canton, and the river splits around two islands there. On the west side of the islands the river drops about ten feet over Cascade Falls; on the east channel it runs over Rushton Falls.

A paved parking lot sits on Coakley Island. From the lot, a footbridge crosses to Falls Island, where short stone paths, about a tenth of a mile and easy walking, lead to views of the falls. The islands are public, and Grasse River Heritage, a local nonprofit, works to develop and promote cultural, educational and recreational uses of the Grasse River corridor in Canton. Across US 11, the upper level of Willow Island holds the group's sculpture garden, an outdoor show of borrowed sculptures that changes about every two years, with a new set of works arriving from the summer of 2026. In the warm months the islands are a fine place to eat a takeout lunch by the water; in winter, go for the view from the footbridge.

Silas Wright's land once ran down to this river from his house on Main Street, so the museum and the islands make an easy pair on foot.

Where to eat

All of these were serving in 2026. Restaurant hours change often, so check before you drive.

In Potsdam

• Maxfields, 15 Market Street, is an American restaurant and bar with a riverside deck on the Raquette. It lists lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner and the bar from 4:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. (315) 265-3796.
• Sergi's, 10 Market Street, is an Italian restaurant and pizzeria that opens at 2 p.m. and serves until 9 p.m. or later; call for the days it is open. (315) 265-3420.

Between the two towns

• 1844 House, 6885 State Route 11, on US 11 between Potsdam and Canton, is a farm-to-table American bistro open Wednesday to Saturday from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Seating is limited and reservations are suggested: (315) 268-1844.

In Canton

• Bent Beam Brewing, 41 West Main Street, opened in August 2026 in a new 3,360-square-foot brewpub with 64 seats inside and two outdoor patios. The core beers are a Mexican lager, a hazelnut brown ale, a fruited sour and IPAs. Its own site has the current hours; more on the region's breweries is in Breweries, wineries and distilleries.
• 11 West, 6182 US 11 on the Potsdam side of Canton, opened in 2024 on the old Frazer Motors site. It is a restaurant and full bar serving lunch from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and dinner from 4:30 to 9 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays. The kitchen pauses between 3:30 and 4:30. (315) 800-0611.

For dinner closer to home on the way back, Malone's restaurants are in Where to eat.

Finding what is on before you go

Much of what draws visitors runs on the academic calendar: the Brush gallery's fall shows run from late August to mid-December, and Crane's fall concerts run from early September to early December. A few checks the week before make the trip:

• Concerts. The Crane School's concert page and the SUNY Potsdam events calendar list every public performance with hall and time; most stream live on Crane's YouTube channel.
• Gallery shows. The Brush Art Gallery's home page lists the current and next exhibitions with dates and its talks; it closes for university breaks.
• Hockey. Clarkson's and St. Lawrence's athletics sites post the schedules and sell tickets.
• Museums. The Silas Wright House posts temporary hours and events on slcha.org; the Potsdam Public Museum posts hours on its own site; TAUNY lists its workshops and events at tauny.org.

The region's bigger yearly events are on the events calendar.

A day plan from the cabins

This plan fits a Tuesday to Friday in term time, when everything is open.

1. 9:00. Leave the cabins, out County Route 25 to Malone and west on US 11.
2. 10:15. Potsdam Public Museum, 2 Park Street. Allow an hour.
3. 11:15. Walk the sandstone blocks: Market Street, Elm Street, then Fall Island and the view of the falls from the end of Raymond Street.
4. 12:15. Lunch at Maxfields on Market Street.
5. 1:30. Drive the ten miles to Canton. The Silas Wright House at 3 East Main Street, about an hour.
6. 2:45. Walk to TAUNY at 53 Main Street for the galleries and the Folkstore.
7. 3:30. Coakley and Falls Islands for the falls on the Grasse.
8. 4:15. The Brush Art Gallery on the St. Lawrence campus, open until 8 Monday to Thursday.
9. 5:30. A beer at Bent Beam, then dinner at 11 West or the 1844 House (Wednesday to Saturday), or drive back to Potsdam for a 7:30 Crane concert.
10. Evening. Back to the cabins, about an hour and a quarter from Canton, and into the hot tub.

A shorter version: Potsdam only, the museum and the stone buildings in the morning, lunch on Market Street, home by mid-afternoon. A winter version: a Friday evening Clarkson game at Cheel Arena with dinner downtown first.

Through the year

• Fall. The best season for the trip: both colleges are in session, Crane's concert calendar is full, the Brush gallery has new shows, and hockey starts in October. The fall foliage guide has the color timing for the drive.
• Winter. Hockey season runs through February. The Silas Wright House is closed for tours from January to March, and the Brush gallery closes over university breaks, so check both. Leave a margin for snow on US 11.
• Spring. The spring terms bring a second round of Crane concerts and Brush gallery shows, posted on their calendars as the dates are set, and the Silas Wright House reopens for tours in April.
• Summer. The Brush gallery keeps academic-year hours, so check it; the riverside parks, the farmers markets and the patios are at their best, and the Silas Wright House keeps its April-to-December hours.

For other museums and indoor days within reach of the cabins, see Museums near the cabins and the Malone history museum. Back at the cabins, the three hot tub cabins are on the cabins page.

Questions

Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. Hours, fees and schedules change; confirm before you go.

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