Marcy, NY

Marcy is a broad Oneida County town between Rome and Utica, with the Mohawk River forming its southern edge and the Erie/Barge Canal crossing the same low corridor. Settlers arrived around 1773, then abandoned their farms during the Revolution after a warning from a Oneida neighbor and returned after the war. The town took its name from Governor William L. Marcy when it was formed in 1832.

The canal is still the best way to get a feel for Marcy's landscape. Lock 20 Canal Park, near River Road, gives walkers and cyclists access to the waterway and the long corridor running toward Utica and Rome. Its address may look suburban on a regional map, yet the canal locks and farm lanes keep the town's older geography visible. The New York State Thruway cuts through the southeast, while school children are spread among Whitesboro, Holland Patent, and Oriskany districts. Marcy has a suburban edge in places, but its river, canal, old farm roads, and turn-of-the-century stories keep it tied to the wider Mohawk Valley.