Stop 7- Towpath Rd: What's in a Name?

 GPS-  43.051257, -76.060448

While many parts of the old Erie canal are visible today, such a aqueducts and towpaths, many parts have been lost to time and reuse of the land. However, the clues to the past are often in the road signs as to what was here 150 years ago...so let's take look at signs and what they have to tell us...

A "Towpath Rd" is one of the surest signs that the road was built either on or next to the old Towpath.

As a general rule, the Towpath for the Erie Canal was on the north side of the canal.

Then, not far away we can see in the street signs where canal boats could turn around.

Here the the narrow channel of the canal opened up into a widewaters produced when the curves of Clinton's Ditch were straightened, Here a boat could pull off or turn around.

And on a modern map, the road still curves around this area. The towpath was a ready-made road when it was no longer needed for mules and drivers.

And that little bit of canal channel that remains is visible along the bike path behind the shopping center on Erie Blvd East and Bridge St

But other names are written into the land. Erie Blvd is an obvious one...

But, along 690, there is a "Water St" and "Canal St", both remnants of the canal days

On the Northside of Syracuse, there is Lock Alley hearkening back to the days the Oswego canal passed by as it headed north. State St's original name was Lock St as it went to the locks that were located once near Destiny USA on the Oswego Canal.

Gerelock Rd points to Gere's Lock or Lock 50 the beginning of the Jordan Level.

And Canal Rd and Towpath Rd goes through Warners/Memphis.

And Clinton Rd is visible from Jordan to the county line. It once flowed the curves of Clinton's Ditch, but ended up being just a bit south of the Enlarged Erie Canal.

These and many other street names hint to the rich canal heritage we have here in Onondaga County. There are streets named for canal superintendents, surveyors, and businessmen. Each is a thread that made the tapestry of the canal possible. So as you continue on, note the signs along the way. And now we head on with our mule to our next stop...