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Welcome to RiverSpark, where water ignited a revolution.

Troy's Rice Building RiverSpark is a New York State Heritage Area - a place where people can come to see and enjoy natural, cultural, and historical attractions. Cohoes, Colonie, Green Island, Troy, the Town and the Village of Waterford, and Watervliet, the seven communities in this heritage area at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, are all fortunate that so many important historical structures remain and are being preserved for this and future generations.

Canal Photo The theme of this area is Industry and Labor. Abundant and cheap water power sparked some of the nation's earliest major industrial communities. Its strategic location along natural water-ways made it a transportation hub or a network of canals and later railroads that stretched far to the north and west. It was the center of the thriving iron and textile industries, and the birthplace of some of the nation's first labor and union activities.

The RiverSpark Heritage Area is composed of seven municipalities:
Cohoes, Colonie, Green Island, Troy, Town of Waterford, Village of Waterford, and Watervliet.
It is currently undergoing reorganization. New contact information will be available soon.