"Erie Canalway- Tug-Lock" by Duncan Hay , public domain
Erie CanalwayNational Heritage Corridor - New York |
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor includes 34 National historic landmarks and 234 local municipalities. Among the designated sites is the Morgan-Manning House, which houses the Western Monroe Historical Society and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, the Flight of Five Locks in Lockport, and the Mabee Farm Historic Site, which marks an early frontier and gateway to the west.
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Map of the U.S. National Park System. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Park System with Unified Regions. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Heritage Areas. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
brochures
Park Brochure of Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor (NHC). Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Visitor Guide to Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor (NHC) in New York. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Visitor Map of Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor (NHC). Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Erie Canalway NHC
https://www.nps.gov/erie/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canalway_National_Heritage_Corridor
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor includes 34 National historic landmarks and 234 local municipalities. Among the designated sites is the Morgan-Manning House, which houses the Western Monroe Historical Society and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, the Flight of Five Locks in Lockport, and the Mabee Farm Historic Site, which marks an early frontier and gateway to the west.
Explore the Erie Canal and discover America's most famous and influential man-made waterway. Nowhere else will you find the distinctive locks and low bridges of the New York State Canal System or discover towns and cities whose watery front doors still give way to lively Main Streets. More than 500 miles of historic waterways and trails are here to explore.
Begin your journey in the east, west, or right in the middle of New York State, you can't go wrong-- the canal's treasures are strong together along the waterway like gems on a necklace. The canal is accessible by CAR, RAIL, BIKE, and BOAT and from major airports: Albany International (ALB), Syracuse Hancock International (SYR), Greater Rochester International (ROC), and Buffalo-Niagara International (BUF).
Oswego Paddlefest
Dozens of kayakers paddle along the Erie Canal.
Kayakers at the Oswego Paddlefest
Festivals and Recreational Events Kick Off Bicentennial Celebrations and Opening of the New York State Canal System
WATERFORD, NY- The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor and the New York State Canal Corporation have teamed up to sponsor 27 festivals and events in 2017 to showcase the Canalway Corridor’s nationally significant heritage and the tremendous recreational appeal of the waterway and Canalway Trail today. Events include cycling and paddling tours, canal festivals, and concerts on the waterfront.
Men and women sit amongst the trees and grass while watching a night concert.
Erie Canalway NHC Hosts World Canals Conference
From September 24 to 28, delegates from around the world convened in Syracuse, NY to discuss the many facets of canal development, and to learn firsthand about the engineering and economic marvel that is the Erie Canal.
Erie Canalway NHC hosted the 2017 World Canals Conference
Erie Canal Opens for a Season of Outdoor Fun
The New York State Canals opened on May 17 and already the 2019 season is off to a roaring start. With the Canalway Challenge and a new set of paddler-friendly navigational tools, there’s something fun for all ages and abilities in the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
Aerial shot of several dozen brightly colored kayaks on a canal
From Indifferent to Cosmopolitan: Transportation and Social Change in Seneca Falls
To some, it may seem surprising that Seneca Falls, a relatively small community in western New York, served as the site of the First Women’s Rights Convention and the start of the formal women’s rights movement. People in the nineteenth century, however, would have recognized Seneca Falls and western New York as a hotbed of reform activity and a plausible location for the start of a major social movement, thanks to advancements in transportation that spurred community growth
B&W etching of mill and waterfalls
Oh
io
River
Other canals—in Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia—that sought
to breach the mountain barrier and
capture Erie Canal trade lacked such
topographical advantage. Most were
not completed, and none proved a
financial success.
Opening America The Erie Canal was North America’s
most successful and influential public works project.
Built between 1817 and 1825, this 363-mile-long canal was
the first all-water link between the Atlantic seaboard and
Great Lakes. New York Govenor DeWitt Clinton relentlessly promoted its construction. Skeptics just as forcefully derided it as “Clinton’s Ditch,” but Clinton would be
vindicated. The canal advanced Euro-American settlement
of the Northeast, Midwest, and Great Plains, sometimes
at the expense of Native populations. It fostered national
unity and economic power. It made New York the Empire
State and New York City the nation’s prime seaport and
seat of world trade.
Faster, Cheaper Canal packet boat passengers traveled
in relative comfort from Albany to Buffalo in five days—not
two weeks in crowded stagecoaches. Freight rates fell 90
percent compared to shipping by ox-drawn wagon. Freight
boats carried Midwestern produce from Buffalo to Albany.
Most continued on to New York City’s seaport, towed
down the Hudson in fleets behind steam tugboats. Midwestern farmers, loggers, miners, and manufacturers found
new access to lucrative far-flung markets.
Continuing the Connection Success quickly spurred
expansion and enlargement of New York’s canal system to
handle more and bigger boats. It triggered canal mania—a
rash of canal building across the eastern United States
and Canada in the mid-1800s, before railroads became the
principal means of hauling freight and passengers. From
1905 to 1918 New York State built the Barge Canal system,
a robust grandchild of the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, and
Cayuga-Seneca canals.
A Flow of People and Ideas The Erie Canal and a
system of connecting waterways fulfilled DeWitt Clinton’s
prophecy that New York would be America’s preeminent
state, populated from border to border and generating
wealth for itself and the nation. Soon New York City was
the nation’s busiest port, most populous city, and foremost
seat of commerce and finance. Immigrants knew they
could find work there or in many new cities sprouting
along the canal. As it opened the American interior to settlement, the canal brought a flow of people and new ideas.
Social reform movements like abolitionism and women’s
suffrage, utopian communities, and various religious movements thrived in the canal corridor. The Erie Canal carried
more westbound immigrants than any other trans-Appalachian canal. These newcomers infused the nation with
different languages, customs, practices, and religions.
Although commercial traffic declined after the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, New York’s Canal System is
still in service. New York canals, both active and retired,
are now vibrant places to enjoy both water- and landbased recreation and to learn about and celebrate our
nation’s heritage.
Whitehall
Black
River
Canal
L A K E O N TA R I O
Path of Least Resistance
Canal engineers chose the path of least resistance across
New York State’s complex topography, but the route was
not always easy. The map at right shows mid 19th-century
New York at the peak of its canal era when a system of
artificial waterways reached throughout the state. Several
canals were abandoned in the face of competition from
railroads, but the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, and CayugaSeneca canals are still operating today.
A R A
A G
N I
Niagara
Falls
Lockport
E S C A
R P M
E N
T
Oswego
Canal
Rochester
Erie
Buffalo
LAKE ERIE
Syracuse
CayugaSeneca
Canal
Genesee
Valley
Canal
F I N G E R
Crooked
Lake
Canal
Keyuka
Lake
Seneca
Lake
Utica
C an a l
CANADA
A D I R O N D A C K M O U N TA I N S
Rome
Oneida
Lake
Lyons
Champlain
Canal
Little Falls
Mohawk
L A K E S
Cayuga
Lake
er
Cohoes
Falls
NEW YORK
Albany
Chenango
Canal
C AT S K I L L
Chemung
Canal
Profile in Locks and Levels
Canal Topography Profile
The heavy brown line atop the
historic map at right shows the
changes in elevation overcome
by the Erie Canal’s locks between
Albany and Buffalo.
Erie Canal Profile
Erie Canal
Sixteen locks were required to climb
out of the deep Hudson Valley past
Cohoes Falls near the mouth of the
Mohawk River. The canal climbed
steadily along the Mohawk from
Schenectady to another steep rise
at Little Falls. From there the long
level—a 58-mile stretch of flat water requiring no lock—carried boats
over a drainage divide at Rome and
on to relatively flat terrain south
of Oneida Lake and north of the
Finger Lakes.
Erie Canalway
Riv
Schenectady
M O U N TA I N S
Canals conquer space with successions of lift locks and levels. Lake
Erie is 570 feet higher than the
Hudson River at Albany. On the
original Erie Canal, 83 stone-walled
locks lifted and lowered boats in an
irregular staircase.
The final barrier
Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Erie Canalway Map & Guide
Fairport
Launch Your
Canal Experience
C
ome by boat, bike, car, or on foot—you’ll discover a
winning combination of recreational opportunities,
unique regional food and beverages, small town charm,
big city culture, and lots to see and do along the canals that
built New York State and opened the Nation.
2023
When you explore the Erie, Champlain,
Cayuga-Seneca, or Oswego Canals, you’re
following in the footsteps of generations
of families, canal boat workers, and world
travelers who have plied these waters and
walked its towpath since the Erie Canal
opened in 1825. Some of our more famed
visitors include Charles Dickens, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, and Mark Twain.
If you travel the entire length of the
Erie Canal, you’ll join a growing number of
today’s “End-to-Enders” who are enjoying a
big adventure and sense of accomplishment
as they walk, cycle, row, kayak, or cruise
nearly 400 miles from Buffalo to Albany.
But you don’t have to travel the entire
distance to have something to write home
about. You can ride the Canalway Trail for
an hour or two, visit one of the Canalway
Corridor’s premier canal museums and
historic sites, discover the charm of canal
villages, or step onboard a tour boat to get
a sense of how much the Erie Canalway
National Heritage Corridor has to offer.
Wish You Were Here…
Before Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, people sent short messages
to friends and relatives using postcards. As the social media of its
day, postcards were cheap, fast, and fun to receive. Share your visit
with friends and relatives and tag us at @ErieCanalway.
CONTENTS
Champlain Canalway 200th . . . 6
Get on the Water . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Take the Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Canal Boating Basics . . . . . . . . . 3
It’s a Hard Knock Life . . . . . . . . . 7
Hit the Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Canalway Challenge . . . . . . . . . . 8
Erie Canalway Map. . . . . . . . . 4-5
On the Canals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fort Ann, Frank Forte
Get on the Water
T
he New York State Canal System—which includes the Erie, Champlain, Cayuga-Seneca, and Oswego canals—is the centerpiece
of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Often billed as the fastest way to slow down, boating here is like nowhere
else. You’ll navigate century old locks; pass stunning stone aqueducts used to carry boats over rivers and streams in the 1800s;
traverse the waterway with tugboats and cruisers; and experience narrow canal channels and wider rivers and lakes. Beautiful scenery,
lively canal waterfronts, and distinctive New York flavor await around every bend.
E
xplore New York State’s extraordinary experiences, people, and places
along the 750-mile Empire State Trail. The trail includes the east-west Erie
Canalway Trail from Albany to Buffalo and north-south trails from New
York City through the Hudson River Valley to Lake Champlain. Whether you like
to cycle, hike, run, or roll, the trail welcomes people of all abilities, from all walks
of life, and all backgrounds.
Niskayuna
Brewerton
Canal Boating Basics
Hit the Trail
• The NYS Canal System is open from mid-May
to mid-October.
• Boating is free and no permit is needed to
go through a lock.
• Lock tenders are on hand to assist you and
make your experience going through locks
easy and enjoyable.
• It typically takes 15 to 20 minutes to go
through a lock.
• Power boats and paddlers share the canal,
so be mindful of speed limits and wakes.
• There are more than 80 public boat ramps
where you can launch a boat.
• The canal is open daily from 7am to 5pm,
but many locks and lift bridges are open on
demand until 10pm.
• Make boating safety a priority. Consult
the New York State Boater’s Guide
for registration, operation, and safety
information: https://parks.ny.gov/boating/.
Find boating resources and Notices to Mariners at www.canals.ny.gov.
Additional information on boating, paddling, rentals, and tours is
available at www.eriecanalway.org.
North Tonawanda
Seneca Falls
Pittsford
Say Hello to a Looper
Boat Tours
Canal Cruising
Vacation Rentals
Paddling
Step on board a canal tour boat for an
hourly cruise, dinner cruise or themed
tour. You’ll find boat tours within an
hour’s drive of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and Saratoga. Most boat
tours will give you the unique canal
experience of going through a lock.
Specialty cruises, sailing adventures, and
wine tours are offered on lake and river
sections of the waterway.
Steer your way to fun on the canal for a day
trip, weekend getaway, or full vacation.
The Erie, Champlain, Oswego and CayugaSeneca canals connect the Hudson River
with Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, Cayuga
Lake, Seneca Lake and Lake Erie. You’ll
find amenities and overnight accommodations at numerous marinas and publ