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Buffalo
Lake Erie port at the head of the Niagara River
Buffalo is the second-largest city in New York State, set at the eastern end of Lake Erie where the Niagara River begins its run toward the falls and Lake Ontario. Its position at the western terminus of the Erie Canal made it a 19th-century boomtown - the gateway where Great Lakes grain and ore met the canal route to the Atlantic - and one of the nation's great grain-milling and steel centers.
The lake shapes daily life, from a deep, busy harbor to the famous "lake-effect" snows that pile up when cold air crosses the open water. Though its industrial heyday passed, Buffalo retains a legacy of Gilded Age architecture and parks, and sits within an hour of Niagara Falls.