Tour Highlights

Download our free Android or iPhone app to enjoy more than twenty audio-guided tours, including these highlights.

Walk on the Old Erie Canal

This two-mile walking tour guides you along the original route of the Erie Canal in downtown Rochester.  It starts at the newly renovated Rundel Library Terrace, which stands above a millrace dug in 1817.  As you walk on the old canal, you’ll see and hear about historic photos taken more than a century ago.  The tour features buildings and stories from Rochester’s earliest days until 1918, when the canal was moved south to Genesee Valley Park, and the canal bed was drained and converted into a subway. Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

High Falls Historic District

Take a guided audio walking or biking tour of historic Brown’s Race and Rochester’s 96-foot High Falls.  Long before the world was powered by electricity, or even steam, pioneers here in Rochester used the power of waterfalls to run more than 20 mills, while their factories created a wide range of products.  Brown’s Race is now a National Register Historic District as well as a City Preservation District. Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

Rochester’s Street Art

Explore some of the best public art in Rochester.  You can visit just a few locations, or take a 90-minute drive to see them all.  If you follow the list in order, you’ll start on State Street in downtown Rochester, and end at Cobbs Hill Park, which offers one of the most beautiful views of the city skyline.  Highlights include murals at MLK Jr. Park and the Public Market, outdoor sculptures at the Memorial Art Gallery, and colorful, continually changing works on two abandoned water towers at Cobbs Hill Park.  Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

Addressing Climate Change

Everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.  Sustainability helps create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in harmony, to support current and future generations.  This tour shows you locations all around greater Rochester where you can see sustainable practices in action.  You’ll learn more about climate change, and what we can do to help protect our planet.  Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

Lower Falls Walking Tour

This walking tour guides you past a spectacular waterfall and over a hydro power station.  It also takes you to Maplewood Park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which features a nationally accredited rose garden and also includes Kelsey’s Landing, a National Underground Railroad Network site.  Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

Charlotte and the Port of Rochester

This audio-guided walking or biking tour starts at Ontario Beach Park.  It takes you along the mouth of the Genesee River in the Charlotte neighborhood of Rochester. Along the way, you’ll see the oldest remaining lighthouse on Lake Ontario, a historic train station, a restored firehouse, and two large murals, with a final stop at Abbott’s Ice Cream near the starting point. Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

A Walk Along Scio Street

This walking tour along Scio Street features interviews with business owners and community partners who are working to reconnect neighborhoods that have been separated by the Inner Loop North roadway.  The tour explores a colorful street featuring murals, sculptures, restaurants, businesses, and historic buildings.  It was created in partnership with Hinge Neighbors, a diverse group of passionate individuals focused on equality, equity, arts, and culture. Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

Sturgeon Story

The Sturgeon Story tour takes you from the mouth of the Genesee River at Lake Ontario south to Lower Falls, an area once critical for sturgeon spawning.  You can boat up the river, or bike or walk along the Genesee River Trail.  This is the story of decades of work among several conservation partners to restore a species that had been extinct in our backyard, the Genesee River.  It was created in partnership with the Seneca Park Zoo, and is narrated by Dr. Jeff Wyatt. Tap here for a preview using the Tour Blend web app.

You can also access all of the tours using the Tour Blend web app