Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Oswego (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Fort Ontario, Richardson-Bates House, and H. Lee White Marine Museum. Also, be sure to include Oswego Public Library in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Oswego (New York).
Table of Contents
Fort Ontario
Museum in Oswego, New York. Fort Ontario is an American historic bastion fort situated by the City of Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It is owned by the state of New York and operated as a museum known as Fort Ontario State Historic Site.[1]
Address: 1 E 4th St, Oswego
Richardson-Bates House
Historical place museum in Oswego, New York. Richardson-Bates House is a historic home located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It is constructed primarily of brick and built in two stages. The main section is a 2+1⁄2-story, Tuscan Villa style brick residence with a gable roof and 4-story tower designed by architect Andrew Jackson Warner about 1867. The interior features carved woodwork by Louis Lavonier. The South wing addition included a private library, formal dining room and kitchen that was completed in 1889.
The house and its contents were donated to the Oswego Historical Society in 1947. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[2]
Address: 135 E 3rd St, 13126-2608 Oswego
H. Lee White Marine Museum
Museum in Oswego, New York. The H. Lee White Marine Museum is located in Oswego, New York. It was founded in 1982 by Rosemary Sinnett Nesbitt, a local professor and the City of Oswego Historian. Nesbitt retired from directorship of the museum in 2008 after completing 25 years of service.
It is the current home of the tugboat Nash, a National Historic Landmark, one of the few remaining US Army vessels from the Normandy Landings.
Located at the museum is the Derrick Boat No. 8, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.[3]
Address: 1 W 1st St, Oswego
Oswego Public Library
Public library in Oswego, New York. Oswego City Library is a historic library building located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It has also been known as the Oswego School District Public Library. It was built in about 1855 and is a two-story brick structure over a full basement. It features a distinctive castellated style with exterior battlements, machicolations, tower, turrets, corbels, and arcaded windows. It was a gift from Gerrit Smith, who gave $25,000 for the building construction and $5,000 for books.
The library is credited for being the oldest public library in the United States that maintains operations out of its original building.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.[4]
Address: 120 E 2nd St, 13126-2198 Oswego
Oswego City Hall
City administration in Oswego, New York. Oswego City Hall is a historic city hall located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It was built in 1870 and is a 2+1⁄2-story masonry, mansarded structure with a distinctive central clock tower. It was designed by architect Horatio Nelson White.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[5]
Address: 245 W 1st St, 13126-3003 Oswego
Oswego Theater
Movie theater in Oswego, New York. Oswego Theater, now known as Oswego 7 Cinemas, is a historic movie theater located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It was designed in 1940 in the Art Deco style and opened in 1941. The front features bands of yellow, red, and dark red brick that create broad horizontal and perpendicular belts. A pair of cast stone, accordion pleated vertical stripes are included on the facade. It was designed by architect John Eberson.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[6]
Address: W 1st St & W Bridge St, Oswego
Safe Haven Museum and Education Center
Museum in Oswego, New York. The Safe Haven Museum and Education Center is a museum in Oswego, New York that tells the story of 982 mainly Jewish refugees who fled Europe in the U.S. Government "Safe Haven" program. They came to the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, in August 1944.
Safe Haven was the only official U.S. Government activity to rescue Jewish refugees during the Second World War, for victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The refugees were brought from Italy, but deliberately only from other parts of Europe. They were all fleeing from the Nazis. They were deliberately chosen so that some incoming refugees were non-Jewish, so as to allay anti-semitic fears.
They were placed in Fort Ontario, behind barbed wire, and given no official status, and were told they would be returned to their homelands after the war, and would have no rights as regards entering the United States. In fact, due to political pressure, at the war's end they were allowed to stay in the United States.
Parenthetically, the group included a whole group of Boy Scouts.[7]
Address: 2 E 7th St, Oswego
Oswego County Courthouse
Oswego County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It was built in 1859-1860 and altered in 1891 and again in 1962. The two story building rises above a cruciform plan and is constructed of load bearing masonry walls faced with smooth ashlar limestone. It features a portico surmounted by a domed cupola. It was designed by architect Horatio Nelson White.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.[8]
Address: 25 E Oneida St, 13126-2666 Oswego
Oswego Valley Railroad Association and Oswego Railroad Museum
Specialty museum, Museum
Address: 56 W 1st St, 13126-1512 Oswego
Nash
Tugboat. Nash is a World War II U.S. Army Large Tug class seagoing tugboat built as hull #298 at Jakobson Shipyard, Oyster Bay NY as a Design 271 steel-hulled Large Tug delivered November, 1943. Originally named Major Elisha K. Henson, in 1946 she was renamed John F. Nash by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since retirement from the Corps of Engineers, LT-5 has been renamed Major Elisha K. Henson. As of the 1992 date of its listing as a National Historic Landmark, LT-5 was believed to be one of the last functional U.S. Army vessels that participated in Normandy landings.[9]
Market House
Building. Market House, also known as The Market Hall and The D.L.& W. Hall, is a historic market building located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It was built in 1835 and is a massive brick and stone structure overlooking the Oswego River. The structure originally housed several government entities including city hall. A new city hall was constructed in 1870 and completed in 1872. A section of the basement is believed to have been used as a jail. In 1864 the city sold it to the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad, that used it for the next 80 years as office and storage space. The railroad upgraded the building with a bracketed cornice and elaborate cupola.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The structure is privately owned, and a bar located on the north-most section of the first floor, named "Old City Hall" has been there for many years.[10]