Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Allyn Perry has lived in a former Erie Canal store for most of her life.
Horace Wescott’s canal store was built in 1855. It is in front of the Enlarged Erie Canal Lock No. 56 in Lyons, NY. The lock is also referred to as the “Poorhouse Lock” because of the Wayne County Poorhouse that was nearby. The store was later converted into a private residence after the enlarged canal was replaced by the Barge Canal in 1918.
Allyn has fond memories of growing up in Lyons with the canal in her backyard. Her mother, Marie Perry, bought the house in 1943 while her husband, Lester, was in the Army and raised her three children there. Her father was a lock keeper in Lyons in the 1950s.
Today, Allyn is an unofficial ambassador of the canal system - greeting boaters and inviting them to view her personal collection of canal memorabilia in her mini “museum.”
Fun fact: The Poorhouse Lock is one of the few remaining enlarged locks on the canal system still holding water.
Image sources:
Allyn Perry
Erie Canal Museum
NYS Archive
Want more info on this topic? Check out the resources below:
New York State Canal Corporation
canals.ny.gov
William G. Pomeroy Foundation Marker
wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/canal-store
Wayne County History
waynehistory.org
Learn more about Reflections on the Erie Canal at wmht.org/ErieCanal
#ErieCanal200
Allyn Perry has lived in a former Erie Canal store for most of her life.
Horace Wescott’s canal store was built in 1855. It is in front of the Enlarged Erie Canal Lock No. 56 in Lyons, NY. The lock is also referred to as the “Poorhouse Lock” because of the Wayne County Poorhouse that was nearby. The store was later converted into a private residence after the enlarged canal was replaced by the Barge Canal in 1918.
Allyn has fond memories of growing up in Lyons with the canal in her backyard. Her mother, Marie Perry, bought the house in 1943 while her husband, Lester, was in the Army and raised her three children there. Her father was a lock keeper in Lyons in the 1950s.
Today, Allyn is an unofficial ambassador of the canal system - greeting boaters and inviting them to view her personal collection of canal memorabilia in her mini “museum.”
Fun fact: The Poorhouse Lock is one of the few remaining enlarged locks on the canal system still holding water.
Image sources:
Allyn Perry
Erie Canal Museum
NYS Archive
Want more info on this topic? Check out the resources below:
New York State Canal Corporation
canals.ny.gov
William G. Pomeroy Foundation Marker
wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/canal-store
Wayne County History
waynehistory.org
Learn more about Reflections on the Erie Canal at wmht.org/ErieCanal
#ErieCanal200
