Ship Canal Commons turns part of Buffalo's heavy industrial waterfront into a calm park. The Union Ship Canal once served the Hanna Furnace Company, where ore arrived by freighter and was turned into pig iron for the region's steel industry.
Today the site uses paths, artificial hills, tree plantings, a footbridge, and a huge steelmaking ladle to recall that industrial landscape. It is especially good by bike from the Shoreline Trail; arriving by car is less straightforward because the park sits inside a still-industrial district.