If you’re interested in the native history of upstate New York, detour southeast along I-88 to tidy Cobleskill (pop. 4,533) and the Iroquois Indian Museum (daily 10 am–5 pm; $5; 518/296-8949). The imposing, longhouse-shaped structure contains artifacts, arrowheads, and more recent works of art associated with the Native Americans descended from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, as well as an interactive, hands-on children’s museum. The museum’s collection of contemporary Native American painting and sculpture also asks tough, probing questions about the one-dimensional casino culture that has recently come to dominate reservation life across the United States.
All over this part of New York, massive roadside billboards blare out the competitive presence of Howe Caverns (marked by simple, yellow-and-black “Howe Caverns” directional signs) and Secret Caverns (on which a Deadhead-ish wizard beckons you onward with pesky lines like “If you haven’t seen the underground waterfall, you ain’t seen guano!”). Though located within two miles of each other, these two tourist attractions are about as far apart as Pat Boone and Jimi Hendrix.
The sanitized-for-your-protection Howe Caverns (daily; $16; 518/296-8900) boast a well-lit, guided elevator and flat-bottomed boat tour of a 156-foot-deep underground cave. Along the same road, you know you’re in for something completely different the moment you approach the dark, foreboding Secret Caverns (daily in summer; $12; 518/296-8558)—entering through the mouth of a giant, leering bat. Don’t let the “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” sign scare you off from taking the twisting (and twisted) one-and-a-half hour guided trek down into the clammy 180-foot-deep innards along a narrow, randomly lit footpath, which terminates at an impressive, 100-foot waterfall.
