Welcome to "35 Miles on the Erie Canal: The Erie Canal Across Onondaga County"

 

Welcome to 

35 Miles on the Erie Canal

The Erie Canal broke ground, just east of Syracuse in Rome in 1817. By 1820 the central section of the canal was operational, five years before the eastern and western ends of the canal were completed in October of 1825. This waterway connected the Atlantic Ocean, via the Hudson River to Albany, to Lake Erie and the interior of a New Nation. It allowed the exchange of goods and efficient means of travel as the United States expanded westward.

The Erie Canal was more than just a ditch with water, it was more than a channel of water across the state, and it eventually became more than the sum of its parts: it became iconic! However, each piece was necessary and each piece made the canal work. If one piece failed, boats and commerce came to a grinding halt. The story of what it took to put the canal through the state can been seen in what is left across Onondaga County. Starting on the eastern boarder and continuing to its western one, the tale of the canal is woven into the infrastructure and buildings that remain, nearly 200 years later, to tell its story. So join us as we explore 28 stops (and their GPS coodinates) along the Towpath and tell a tale nearly 200 years in the making:

1. Pool’s Brook: The Ditch (43.074345, -75.922202)
2. Fayetteville Feeder: Add Water (43.044547, -76.010080)
3. Limestone Creek Aqueduct: Crossing Water (43.044080, -76.010702)
4. Cooper’s Tubular Arch Bridge: Connecting Communities (43.044061, -76.038435)
5. Cedar Bay Widewaters: Turn Around! (43.042359, -76.044805)
6. Butternut Creek Aqueduct: Over the Creek (43.043633, -76.050145)
7. Towpath Rd: What’s in a Name? (43.051257, -76.060448)
8. Empire State Trail: From Waterway to Highway (43.049780, -76.071209)
9. Lock Square Monument: Lock Down (43.049522, -76.120968)
10. Hookway Warehouse: Storage (43.050540, -76.140201)
11. Weighlock Building: Tolls (43.050467, -76.148400)
12. Mule and Driver: Why Mules? (43.050895, -76.148949)
13. Oswego Canal Confluence: Getting to Port (43.050933, -76.149480)
14. Clinton Square: Commercial Hub (43.050882, -76.152308)
15. Amos Mills: The Mill and The Disaster (43.050723, -76.158248)
16. Gere Building: The Businessman (43.055510, -76.186161)
17. Solvay/Geddes Townline: James Geddes, Rock and Salt (43.064734, -76.217098)
18. Geddes Brook: The Culvert (43.067859, -76.230389)
19. Gere’s Lock: Lock Up to the Jordan Level! (43.068377, -76.232893) 
20. Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct: The Power of a Dream (43.059145, -76.285402)
21. Sim’s Store: Stores and Markets (43.052605, -76.303531)
22. Halfway Points: Of 363, 350, and 339 (43.054804, -76.309833)
23. Carpenter’s Brook Waste Weir: Overflow (43.075774, -76.424109)
24. Locktender’s House: The Office (43.067720, -76.468753)
25. The Drydock: Build ‘Em or Fix ‘Em (43.066454, -76.471403)
26. Skaneateles Creek Aqueduct: Creek and Dam (43.066311, -76.472306)
27. Jordan Canal Park and Garden: Park it! (43.065765, -76.473371)
28. Lock 51: Lock Down at the County Line! (43.066870, -76.495707)

So type in one of the stops into the search bar, and join us (and our mule Sal) as we explore what it took to make 35 miles on the Erie Canal flow across Onondaga County!