antique boat museum

Who would ever think that a boat museum would rate five stars. We visited New York Clayton specifically in October 2014. Clayton New York was near 1000 Islands. I thought it was going to be a dinky little museum. Holy cow! There are five main buildings housing boats and the Mc Nally Yacht House. You enter through the Haxall Building. The Haxall building has rotating exhibits as well as an introduction to the museum. There is a theatre and of course, a store! What would a museum be without a store!Across the street from the Haxall building is the Morgan Building which houses speed boats and the story of powerboat racing.The Cleveland E. Dodge Building houses cruisers, launches, runabouts and more. You can board many of the vessels and they have it set up to replicate an old boat show.The Mc Nally Yacht House is where you can see the in water fleet. Here are the museum's ride boats., small sail boats etc.The historic stone building is where you will find volunteers to answer all our questions. This is where they build and restore boats.In the small craft building you will find small craft! Many, many types of canoes. Thus is where you will learn about the "St. Lawrence Skiff".The "La Duchesse" is an elegant 106 foot houseboat. She was commissioned in 1903. You could only go on with a guided tour and group tours were not permissible. No handicap access either.For 25.00 dollars per person you could take a ride on a triple-cockpit runabout.Highly recommend at minimum three hours.No cafe that I noticed. Places to eat in downtown Clayton.

The museum provided an insight into the rich history of Clayton, NY, and smaller boat activities including canoes built by Indians, and the wooden power boats of different sizes and speeds on the St. Lawrence. The museum also includes a tour of a large boat used in the entertainment of the wealthy in the early 20th century. Do not forget to visit the shop where boats are restored. The Manager of the museum shop was very courteous and helpful.

The best boat museum I have ever toured through. Exceptional educational value with displays that are aw inspiring.

Bring your camera and capture images of boats from a bygone era. Clean, brightly lit museum filled with beautifully restored antique boats.

We were surprised by how much we enjoyed our visit to the museum. We like boats but don't own and aren't particularly interested in antique boats but the facility is wonderful. Our 8yo loved being able to enter the cabin cruisers.Don't miss the house boat tour.Spring for the speed boat ride, it was the highlight of our vacation.The brewery across the street is great for lunch. It has a nice selection of local and national craft beers and wine.

Excellent collection of beautifully restored antique speed boats, canoes, and many others. Great displays of the pioneers of speed boat racing and explanations of the boats themselves. I am not an expert on boats but I found the museum very interesting and enjoyable. 5 buildings to tour. majority of boats totally under cover. Courteous helpful staff. handicap accessible. Wheelchairs available

Went to Clayton to look at a boat under purchasing consideration. Google maps showed the museum was next to the place I was staying. 7.5 hour drive through rain, fog and other nasty inclemencies, the boat passed a visual inspection. The sky started to clear and rainbows were visible in the distance. I remembered the museum was down the street. I am a bit jaded having visited other museums purporting to have antique wood boat collections etc. Well, I was blown away by the size and scope (representing only 30% of their collection), as well as the way the boats were displayed. 5 buildings and 2.5 hours later I had to head home knowing that I could have easily spent 8 hours and still left wanting more. I don't imagine I'll need to go to Clayton again, but plan on it just to finish my museum visit.

Can't say enough about the ABM. Took a boat ride on a 28' triple cockpit Garwood - best 25 bucks I ever spent!! If you like old boats - this is a must-see place - a Bucket List Item for all wooden boat lovers!!!!! Plus Clayton is a wonderful town!

Loved all of the boats, history, and dockside location. Perfect location for a wedding or other special event.

Visited October first 2014. Enjoyed the displays of the antique boats and the old motors. Saw a martin motor which brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. I spent many a day working on the gas tank of that motor. Wish I would have kept is as I am sure that now there are compounds that would have sealed the tank. Also liked the Rolls Royce merlin displays as well as the Packards. Was very interested in the Matthews information. Talked to a couple people that were involved in the Antique Boat Society and had a good chat. Everyone that was there was impressed with the displays and quality restorations. If you are into boats this is well worth the time it takes to go through the museum. We spent about 3 hours there.

Spent two hours at this wonderful place.Plenty to see. Amazing array of some of the most beautiful antique boats I have ever seen.Well worth the $12.00 admission price....

Was pleasantly surprised at the size of the collection and the quality. Didn't expect to spend as much time as we did but there are multiple buildings to look at, a movie and an interesting tour of the former Boldt house boat. It was nice they had some of the boats open so you could actually board them and look around. Also appreciated seeing a variety of boats including race boats with information on the male and female racers.

We went a little late in the afternoon and would have liked to have several hours to linger at the museum. Don't miss it!

Revisited after 20+ years. Impressive in every respect. Even a separate building for the "quest for speed" exhibits. I even got a really great pair of sunglasses in their gift shop for $6.25. Who Knew?

This is a great museum for boat lovers, nautical adventurers, and seeing amazing works of art in the shape of boats. Magnificent works of art for antique to new. The wooden boats are amazing.