Tag: Port Leyden
Port Leyden is a village in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 672 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the village’s early history as a port on the Black River Canal.
The Village of Port Leyden is wholly within the Black River Valley and is mostly in the Town of Leyden; however, a portion of the village lies to the east of the Black River in the Town of Lyonsdale. The village is 17 miles south of Lowville (the county seat), 6 miles north of Boonville, and 23 miles west-south-west of Old Forge.
A mill was built at the present site of the village around 1800, and the community was known as “Kelsey’s Mills.” The name was changed to “Port Leyden” around 1838 when the Black River Canal was being developed. The canal was completed to Port Leyden in 1850, but was not usable until 1851. The canal reached its northern terminus at Lyons Falls, a few miles north, in 1855. In 1900, a decision was made to abandon the canal between Lyons Falls and Village of…
