Erie Basin Marina

Much more than just a place to park boats, the Erie Basin Marina is popular with Buffalo residents during the summer as a place to walk, jog or bike, enjoy an ice cream cone and cool lake breezes, or just relax and watch the people go by. A longtime fixture on Buffalo's waterfront, the Erie Basin Marina is located next to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park, the Canalside redevelopment, the Waterfront Village Condominiums, and the Buffalo Light, which was built in 1833 and is the oldest existing building in Buffalo still on its original site. The marina also boasts such amenities as a snack bar and ice cream shop ('''The Hatch'''), an upscale restaurant ('''Templeton Landing'''), a waterfront boardwalk that provides access to the small Emerald Beach, and an observation tower that boasts excellent views of downtown, the West Side waterfront, Elevator Alley, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, and [[Canada]]. Also located here are the '''Erie Basin Marina Gardens''', whose 200 different species of plants come into bloom each spring and summer along Erie Street and which serve not only as a delightful attraction for visitors but also as a test garden for floral and seed companies to experiment with growing their plants in a Northeastern climate.