Cayuga County Canal Tours

Ten Years, a milestone?

2012-02-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago, I finished writing a book about the Erie Canal in Cayuga County. I had not started out to write a book, but rather to see what I could find out. To be honest, I was fairly disappointed that so little attention was being paid to the canal, its history, and its possible reuse. At the time, I was living in Weedsport and I spent many hours at the Old Brutus Historical Society, flipping through the card files and the old copies of the Cayuga Chief. I kept coming home saying, "Listen to what I found today! I should write a book!" My wife, ever helpful, said, "shut up and write the damn book!" When I was done, I found a local printer and had 250 copies printed, which I thought was a huge gamble. I then went on the "senior citizen" tour, where I gave talks using my slide projector, to any senior's group, service organization, church group, or anyone else who would listen and needed a free program. Over the following five or six years, I sold over 800 copies of the book, a figure that still surprises me.

A couple years ago, the ever energetic Cheryl Longyear and I decided we wanted to help celebrate the canal, and the resources we have available in the county. We started doing tours and promotions during the Canal Splash weekend; and held focus group meetings with local educators and the historical societies. One of the things that came up was the need for a website that could hopefully pull all of what we had rediscovered and found together. We applied for a small grant from the Canal Corporation to help create a website. One of the things I wanted to do on the website was refresh the book I had written and get it up as a resource. We found a local webdesigner, Adam Sweet of Weedsport, to help us out.

It wasn't until I was re-working the book that I realized that ten years had gone by. What a difference ten years has made. In ten years, a new enthusiasm has taken hold when it comes to the canals, across the State and across the County. There is a realization that the canal still has something to contribute to our area. The towpath trail, at least from Port Byron to the eastern county border, once covered by tall weeds and large trees, has been cleared and made into part of the Canalway Trail system. The Town of Montezuma is actively working on the development of a park, as is the Town of Mentz. Even the Village of Port Byron investigated the idea of rewatering the old canal. Four murals have been painted highlighting our history. And we had started a website and two canal related blogs.

And my old slide projector is only pulled out when nothing else works, in fact, I don't even think I can find a slide film processor anymore. Instead they have been replaced by a digital camera, laptop, and large monitor or projector.

So if you head over to the Cayuga County Canals website, you will find a copy of my book, with full color photos and maps. The pdf files are rather large, so give it a moment to download. Check out the other resources we have available, and let us know if you need more. I look forward to the next ten years and the changes that will come.

New Name, Same Old Site

2012-01-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

I changed the name to reflect what I have been attempting to do with the blog. I have been adding in walks and places to see that are outside the Canal Splash weekend events. I will continue to publish info about our Canal Splash events and other happenings. The old Canal Splash info has been removed. I also added the links to the pdf's that we offer on the Resources Tab on the sidebar. It should make it easier to find the links.
And the address has remained the same.

Montezuma Aqueduct

2012-01-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

I almost titled this post, The Montezuma Aqueduct Graveyard, but I didn't want to create a lot of confusion. But as I walked through the moss covered remains of the old Montezuma Aqueduct, it felt a lot like a graveyard. So here is my tour of the west side of the Seneca River, or what should be referred to as the Montezuma Aqueduct Graveyard.

The Montezuma, or Seneca River, or Richmond Aqueduct, was the second longest on the enlarged canal system. You can read my post about the aqueduct elsewhere in this blog. When the barge canal was constructed, the aqueduct created a problem since it blocked the river and the dredging that needed to take place along the Seneca to make it usable as a canalized river. Dredges were deployed on both sides of the aqueduct, leaving the structure intact until the very last moment. In the winter of 1917-1918, the aqueduct was removed and basically tossed into the swamp on the west side of the river. Not many people realize that the aqueduct was simply taken apart and tossed aside. It makes sense, but there is a whole lot of stone that was thrown away.

If you park in the parking area, just to the west of the Rt 31 bridge over the Seneca River, you can walk down a trail / dirt road to the aqueduct. If it is dry, you can drive almost half way along the route, but it isn't worth getting stuck for the extra 10 to 15 minutes of walking it will save you. So leave your car next to the bridge and cross the road, then follow the dirt road back about 3/4 of a mile. It looks like the roadway may have been built back during the deconstruction of the aqueduct, to allow workers to get to the site. The first thing you will see are the stones covered with a thick layer of moss. I have been here in the winter when the area was covered with snow, and although beautiful, you don't get the sense of how many stones there are here. You will also find an occasional piece of iron, such as a rod or a bolt. This is why I wanted to call this a graveyard tour. Of course, be careful as you poke around the stones. They appear to have been dumped off the side of the towing path, so they are located on quite a slope.

You will also see the three arches of the aqueduct off to the left. The trail leads over the towing path, into the prism and to the berme side. It is the easiest way to go. If the area is dry, you can walk right under the arches, but we couldn't do this today. Winter is the best time to visit, as the top is very overgrown and it is easier to see everything without all the leaves on the tree. I have been here during spring floods, and have been very limited on where I could go.

Remember as you are standing here, that when the enlarged canal was in operation the surface of the river was about four feet higher then it is today. My wife Mary, and Lizzy the Canal Dog, would have been underwater.

Now, once you are done climbing and wondering and wowing, and you think you are done; stop. Don't rush back to your car quite yet. Start back down the trail and look over to your right. If you know your history, you already should be looking for the remains of the first canal. This is where the first Erie crossed the river by way of a slack-water crossing. A slack-water crossing is where the man-made canal entered into the river and the boats floated over the river as the animals walked over a low bridge. Once to the other side, the boats re-entered the man-made canal. To protect the canal from seasonal river levels, a guard lock was built to serve as the entry to the canal / river.

Where you are standing is Kipp's Island, a one time real island located between the Seneca River and the Clyde River. So if we were headed west on the canal (say heading from Albany to Buffalo), we would have passed from the canal through a guard lock on the east side of the river, and would be floating on the river. (In the early days, this was the connection to Cayuga Lake.) Our animal team and driver would have walked over a wooden bridge to this shore and we would have entered into a cut through the island. This is where you are now. You can see the path of the cut as it passes through Kipp's Island. Our boat would need to cross the Clyde River before re-entering into the man-made canal by way of another guard lock.

When the Montezuma Aqueduct was built, the Clyde River was rerouted to flow into the Seneca just above the new aqueduct, and the island became no more except in name only.

Okay, I hope you got all that. So once you find the old canal, you can scamper through the brush to walk on the old towing path, or you can walk a little further and take a right down a dirt trail. Both will take you east to the river.

Once at the river, you will find quite a dirt road that will take you all the way back to Rt 31 and your car. You will also be rewarded with some beautiful views of the seven arches of the aqueduct on the east side of the river.

Once you are back to your car, drive a little west on Rt 31, about a quarter mile. When you are middle of the low-lands, look for the cinder block building and the winding stream of water that looks a lot like a drainage ditch. This is a old Clyde River route. Once you pass the block building, you are off the island.

Note- don't do this walk during hunting season!
Note- I know this walk isn't Cayuga County, it is in Seneca County.

Walk Abouts

2011-12-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

There are times of the year when we want to get out and take a walk, but the ground is wet and muddy, and we simply don't want to let the dog get all messy. So I will post a link here for a walking tour of Port Byron that we did back in 2010. This tour will take you around the village in about an hour or two, depending on how fast you wish to walk. You could also drive it if you wish. If you want to have a hard copy, the Lock 52 Historical Society has copies for sale.

Canal Splash Tour

2011-06-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Following the Flow- A Canal Splash Event

August 13, 2011

Last year the three “canal” Historical Societies, Weedsport, Port Byron and Montezuma, participated in the State-wide Canal Splash event. This year, we are doing it again, with a slightly different schedule.

As usual, Old Brutus HS in Weedsport will open the doors of it’s building from 9am-3pm for tours. Tours of canal sites will begin at 11am at Lock 51, the lock one mile west of Jordan on Rt 31. There we will begin “Following the Flow” of canal water down the hill to the Seneca River at Montezuma. The old Erie had a couple of high points or bumps along it’s route between Albany and Buffalo, and the section in Cayuga County flows a bit backwards. It makes for an interesting tale of how Cayuga County was a difficult place to build a canal. We will spend about 30 – 45 minutes at Lock 51.

We will then head west to Port Byron, where we will make a quick stop at the St. John’s Church parking lot at 12:30. From this one spot, a person can learn a lot about the canals of Port Byron. We will talk about the two canal routes, the old mills, the use of the Outlet and early settlement of the village.

Plan to be in Montezuma at 1:30pm for a walking tour of canal sites. We will start at the Byron Lapp trailhead next to the firehouse in the hamlet. From there we will walk west toward the river, finishing the journey of the canal water as it reached the bottom point of the little dip in the canal route. We will talk about the Heritage Park plans for Montezuma, and visit the Seneca River Aqueduct, old Lock 62, view the junction of the Erie and Cayuga Seneca Canals and maybe even Lock 11.

Plans are still being made, so keep coming back here for more details as the date arrives.

Seneca River Flooding Shows The Past

2011-05-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

I took a walk down to the Seneca River Aqueduct today. The river has been running very high due to all the rain, and I wanted to see where the water was today as compared to what historic photos show. I did some study a couple years ago that compared the old aqueduct to the water levels that were measured in 1862 and what they were in 2009. See the string and the sack of gravel? The bit of ribbon above the sack shows what the water level was as measured in 1862. And you can see the ice below. Now if you compare this to a historic photo of the aqueduct,
you can see that the ribbon is about where the water once was. I figure that the river runs about four feet lower today then it did in 1862, which is a result of the building of the barge canal and all the work that was done in dredging the channel.

The flooding offers us the chance to see where the old shoreline once was, since it has returned the water to its "natural" level. I have studied the old maps, and they show the river as being much different then it is today. Look at how the river bends around the lock. It almost looks like the canal builders dug out the canal and placed the spoils to create the towpath.But if you were to go there these days during the summer, you would see that the river is much further from the lock site, tens if not hundreds of feet away.

So today, thanks to the flooding, I was able step back a hundred and fifty years and see where the river once was. And it is striking to see. The river looks just like the map of 1834. I was able to walk out on the Clinton's Ditch towpath, surrounded on both sides by water. The lock site is within feet of the river, and the old canal lock is filled with water, right up to the upper miter sill.

Now realize that I am using one canal to gain an understanding of the other. The Seneca River Aqueduct is from the Enlarged Erie, but the map and the lock site are from the first canal. I have records and photos that show the water level of the river in relation to the aqueduct, so I used the aqueduct to measure and water levels, knowing that the river level was the same from 1834 and 1850. Make sense?

It is difficult to show with photos since all the trees block the view of the water. And the rain was threatening (again!) so the light was flat and not so good to help define water from tree from land. I have included a photo of the old towpath and one of the old lock.

Doing this helps to gain an understanding of what the river once was, and how it shaped our early settlement and growth. If you want my rant about how people are silly to build homes right on the river, thinking that it never floods, well, give me a call.

New Website

2011-02-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

http://cayugacountycanalhistory.org/

We have a new website in Cayuga County. Last year, the three historical societies along the canal applied for a grant to develop a new website that would be useful to county residents, visitors and educators. We quickly learned that we did not receive the grant and went about our business. Then a couple months ago, Cheryl received a call from the Canal Corporation. "Could we use a little left over money?" It seems that the grant had a little extra to use up.

So we called a young man from Weedsport, Adam Sweet, of Sweet Design. He set about designing us a basic website that we will continue to build on as we move forward with this project. So give it a click and let us know what you think. Just be aware that some of the links still have to be filled with content.

More Montezuma

2011-01-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

Montezuma is a great place to visit because there is so much to see and understand. I am certain a person could spend a lifetime studying just Montezuma. And the more you understand about it, the more you want to come back again and again to see it to make the connections between man, the river, the ecology, the geology, the industry, the early explorers and the canals. In earlier posts, I wrote about a couple walks you could take around Montezuma. Here is another walk to consider.

Park at the trail-head on Chapman Road. Walk west along the trail (tow-path). While you are walking, take a good look at the landscape around the canal. Notice where it is level with the towpath, or even where in places the towpath is cut into the ground. Shortly you will come to a path on the right that heads off into the woods. Walking down the path will take you to the site of the old Clinton's Ditch lock. Volunteers have built a crude bridge over the lock, so if you promise to be careful, you can walk over the bridge to see the foundations of the lock tenders house and the hand-dug well. You can even walk along the old towpath back east, but you can't make it back to the parking lot because of drainage ditches.

After looking about the lock site, walk back up the path and then turn right down the ATV trail cut into the brush and trees. You will notice that the land is sloping toward the west. Does a change in elevation always equal a lock? Maybe not. Certainly, the lock is here because of this change in elevation, but there are other ways of over coming changes in elevation. Continue walking down the trail and the landscape will open up a bit as you reach the flats. As you walk west, look to the south and take a good look at the embankment of the Enlarged canal. Then turn north and look for the small berm of the first canal. Then realize that the river was once about 4 feet higher then it is now. Walk up to the bank of the river. Put yourself in a place where you can see the river, the old canal and the new canal with the Aqueduct. Take a moment to think about the 34 years of crossing a river on a slack-water pool where the animal teams walked over the river on a bridge and the boats floated on the natural river. Then look at the Aqueduct and think about the change in canal operations that the enlarged embankment and the aqueduct represents. The embankment created flat navigation from Lock 52 in Port Byron across the wetlands to Lock 53 in Clyde. But it also represents a man-made change in the flow of water through the swamps and how the river reacted during times of high water.

Do be careful around the river. The ice is under the snow and it is easy to take a fall as you attempt to get a nice photo (trust me, I know!). Walk up to the top of the Aqueduct and then back along the towpath. From this vantage point, look down to the flats and think about what it took to build this embankment to they could eliminate the lock and slack water crossing.

Hunting for Clinton's Ditch

2011-01-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a cold, snowy, blustery winter in Central NY. But the snow did stop long enough for me to get out for a couple walks. I have been enjoying snowshoeing along the trail in Port Byron, but I also wanted to look for remnants of the first canal in spots that I had not been to yet. So here is a little tour.

There are a couple of good places to go in Cayuga County to do this. Montezuma; east of Port Byron; and east of Weedsport. Wh ere the Canal Trail crosses Route 31 near Towpath Road, you can see a overgrown section of the first canal (aka; Clinton's Ditch, Great Western Canal) Of course, anytime I am in the area of Enlarged Lock 51, I need to stop in for a quick visit. (My dog Lizzy goes on all canal explorations) Check the map that is on the pdf of Lock 51 and notice the route of the early canal. The turn south to look at the hill to the south and then follow the contour of the land. You can almost see the route of the canal.

Head a bit west and turn left on the first road. This is Pump Road. At the next intersection, turn right onto Clinton Road and stop for a moment. This was the location of Cold Spring Pump, where an artesian well supplied water to local residents and canallers. The intersection sits south of the first canal, so look for the route of the canal in the woods and backyards of the homes on the right. Then drive west. The important thing is the land. Notice the hillside to the left and the wet swampy areas to the right. In-between was the canal.

As you head west, you will also begin to see the line of the Rochester, Syracuse and Eastern Trolley. It ran along Clinton Road, so don't be fooled. If you see power-line poles, you are looking at the old trolley route. After a bit, you will see a road on the right. This is Lippoldt Road. Turn onto the road and drive down to the intersection with Route 31 and the canal trail. It is a quiet road, so I park on the side and walk up the trail.

Again, head west. You will come to the concrete abutment of the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad. (Here is crossed the Enlarged Erie and if you follow the line of the railroad embankment north, you will see where it crossed the NY Central line. Good train watching spot.) Just west of this abutment, look south (left). On the far side of the field you will see the horizontal line of the first canal. You can see it in the photo, just below the line of trees, hugging the hillside contour. I have included a photo of where I was on the canal trail. Notice the fencing as a landmark. The fencing is where a culvert once crossed under the enlarged canal.

Now if you are thinking about exploring the old canal, don't. This section of canal is on private land. Please respect landowner rights.

If you follow the trail west; the trail, the old canal and Route 31 will all come together where the canal trail crosses the highway. There are also some good spots to see the first canal if you cross the road and continue on the trail. The two canals took very different paths through this area, so you can often see the first canal from the canal trail.

Have fun!

Canal Research Resources

2010-12-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

If you are planning a trip to Cayuga County to look at our canal sites, you will find it helpful to have done some background research to get your bearings. So let me tell you of one of the best places to start.

You may not think of a genealogical website as a source of canal research information, but sometimes you can be surprised. The Cayuga County Genweb site at; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/index.htm is one of the best local historical research sites on the web. On the left are buttons you can chose for the various resources. Look for the William Hecht site of images and maps. Here you will find scans of photos, postcards and maps of Cayuga County. Here is the link in case you can't find it; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/hecht/index.html

You will be surprised at the treasure of information available. Bill has digitized some of the large statewide canal maps that came out of the Canal Commissioner's Reports, as well as other maps that deal with the canals, railroads, military tracts and many other things .

Look for the county and village maps maps. These can be found on the maps button on the Genweb page. The 1859 map is very interesting since it shows the route of the old and enlarged canals west of Port Byron.

Bill also comes up with things that haven't been seen in 100 years, and his discoveries are sometimes amazing. But here is a warning. It will take time to get a feel for the site. Organization of the site is, well, iffy at best. Bill posts his discoveries on the message board on the Genweb site, so look there as a finding aid if you just feel like poking around.

If you can find them, look for the fly over photographs Bill takes from his plane. One of the tours included Lockport, Niagara Falls, and the Finger Lakes.

It is all good stuff, and you will find yourself spending hours looking at the resources Bill has made available.

Centerport Aqueduct and the Cayuga Canal Trail

2010-12-19T08:08:00.000-08:00

The Centerport Aqueduct was stop three on our 2010 Canal Splash event. It is located a mile west of Weedsport on Route 31. There is a paved parking lot within 200 yards of the structure, so it is very accessible to even those who can't walk long distances.

The Aqueduct Park also sits at the eastern end of the Port Byron to Weedsport section of the Canal Trail. Let me give you a winter time walking hint. The trail from the Aqueduct to Centerport Road, about a mile west, is used by snowmobiles and this is nice if you don't have snowshoes or skis and you want to get out for a walk. The trail from Port Byron to Centerport Road, which is 1.34 miles in length, is not used as a snowmobile route and thus the snow can be better (in my opinion) for snowshoes and skis. This section of trail is near the watered section of canal and is quite nice to walk along. And if you walk down to the end of the watered section, about 3/4 of a mile, you can see a fine example of a stream receiver, a way that streams were taken directly into the canal. Water was taken into the canal by way of feeders, which could be turned on or off by gates (which, if you know what to look for, can be seen at Centerport Road) or by way of stream receivers, which connected the stream directly into the canal. This was not a good way to do it, since during floods, the water could not be turned away. But it was cheaper to build a stream receiver then to build a feeder structure, so frugality won out sometimes.

Don't let the cold keep you away. As you can see from the photos, winter can be a spectacular time to visit canal sites.

If you want information on the Aqueduct, go back to the list of tour stops and click on the blue link. Doing this will take you to a fact sheet that you can download and print out.

More Winter Walking Fun

2010-12-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

On the last blog entry, I told you about parking in Montezuma and taking a walk east along the old canal. This time, I want to tell you about heading west along the canal. So park at the Chapman Road parking lot near the canal and head out to the right (west) on the berm side (south) of the canal. It is the side with the power lines.

As you walk, notice that the is curving around a hill. The builders were using the hill for fill, so they cut the hill down and used the spoils to build up the embankment out on the swamps. You will see this as you get further along.

Continue walking, and I will warn you that it is not as easy a walk as the towpath side. The ATV's and power line trucks have it quite rutted up and you need to walk around a bunch of puddles if it is warm. That is why winter time can be a good time. You are going to notice a small hill, a drumlin, and then the landscape will flatten out as the hills give way to the swamps. At the base of the hill, you will see the remains of the old Montezuma Fibre Company, circa 1906-1913. This company used cattails to make a fibre mash that was made into heavy weight paper. It is a nice place to walk around the concrete walls and try to image what happened here over 100 years ago. This business used the canal to ship materials and products.

Then you have an option. You can follow the trails around the base of the hill and you will find the trail up to the top of the drumlin. Once you get to the top, you will see the hollow of the reservoir that someone dug into the hill to store water for the fibre making process. Since the trees have grown so high, you don't get much of a view. Then walk down the front slope of the hill back to the canal.

Or you can continue west along the canal and view the aqueduct remains from the south side. If the river is froze, you can walk down along the shore and make a close up inspection of the stonework. Sometimes you can walk down under the arches if the river is low enough. But do be careful. The river ice can be very tricky and quite fragile to walk on. Test your steps before putting all your weight onto the ice. I like to carry a stick to poke my way about. And don't do this if the river is high. It is too dangerous. Wait till the water is low and then poke your way along the ice chunks.

Well, then you can walk back to Chapman Road, having had a splendid time along the canal in Montezuma.

Making Winter Plans

2010-12-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

Winter is a great time to go around and look at canal sites. The leaves are gone, so you can see better through the woods; you can spot the horizontal line of the embankment in the woods; and sometimes, if it is cold enough, you can walk out onto the ice and (carefully, please) explore those swampy wet areas.

Lock 11 in Montezuma is one of those great spots to explore in the winter. Park on Chapman Road and walk east along the berm side of the canal, heading back toward the hamlet. (Please respect the private landowners and walk in from this side. The land between the lock and the streets is private property.) The first thing you will do is walk around Meil's Drydock. You can see how big a business this was. Then head to the old bridge abutment by the junction of the two canals. This is the only bridge abutment left in the county, so enjoy your view from the top. Then head south down the Cayuga Seneca Canal to Lock 11. This lock is the best preserved lock from the old CS canal. If the water is froze, walk down through the chamber and examine the stone work up close.

As you head out, you might see the remains of the first canal off in the woods to the left (west). And then enjoy the wetlands to the south. It is a beautiful winter walk.

The nice folks at the Montezuma Historical Society have a nice guide book for a very reasonable price that covers this area. Also, if you go back and look at earlier posts, you will find that you can download free guides for many canal sites across the county. Just look for the blue links.

Come back later and I will talk about walking west toward the river.

Canal Splash A Success!

2010-08-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

Stop 5: Tour Guide, Mike Riley begins the last tour

stop near the site where the original Erie

Canal opened in Montezuma, NY in 1820.

We thank everyone who participated in the Canal Splash event, or just looked over the information on the blog. As a first event, we learned a lot and we thank that people on the guided tours who were our test subjects. Using what we learned, we will be reformatting the tour a bit for next year.

If you are happening upon this blog site after August 14, 2010, we have a bunch of information on canal sites in Cayuga County available for you. By going back to the tour schedule and clicking on the blue links, you can download information sheets on canal sites located across the county.

The contact information remains the same. If you are coming to Cayuga County to see the canal sights alone or in a group, we are available to help guide you. If you want to look around on your own, we have very nice printed tour guides that will on a walking tour around Montezuma and or Port Byron. These are available for purchase for a very reasonable price and the sales go to benefit the local historical society. Just contact this email on this blog site.

Also, check out a new blog for the Montezuma Heritage Park located at the former archaeology dig site at: http://www.montezumaheritagepark.blogspot.com

Tour Stop Information

2010-05-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

by Mike Riley

We are making a great effort to make this tour as informative as possible, so we are preparing hand outs for each stop that will let you know the how and why for the structure. This is fairly easy for Lock 51 and the Centerport Aqueduct, since they are stand alone stops. But the Port Byron and Montezuma stops are walking tours, and they cover many sites. And we will have walking tour booklets available for sale, complete with photos and lots of good information. But, we do want to have a handout for those who are exploring on their own and or don’t wish to purchase the guide booklet. So we have chosen Lock 52 and the Montezuma Aqueduct as sites worthy of their own handouts.

These will be available at the sites and at the Old Brutus Historical Society, the headquarters for our day long event. These will be copied in black and white. But, we are also making them available through this blog site as downloadable pdfs. Just go back to the February 28th post, “Tour Schedule”, and click on the blue highlighted links. This will open a pdf (in color) that you can view and print out.

Note: The walking tour booklets are not available as downloads. These are being sold by the Montezuma and Lock 52 (Port Byron) Historical Societies as a way to raise much needed funds.

We hope you will enjoy these downloads and that it will make you want to come to our August 14 Canal Splash event.

The Erie House

2010-04-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

One of the canal sites you can visit in Port Byron is the Erie House. Here is a little back ground.

The Erie House was a hotel and tavern on the canal. It can be seen in the background of the period photograph of the boat in the drydock. Located near by was a blacksmith shop and mule barn.

It was built in 1894 by Peter and Salvator Van Detto and operated until the canal closed (really moved to its new location) in 1917. It had the secondary role as the center of Italian activities in the area, since the owners were from Italy (by way of Rochester, NY). Peter was a leader in that emigrant community and owned farms out in the mucklands. After Peter, the father, moved to Montezuma, the mother, Adelina, and daughters, Marie and Theresa, continued to live in the house until their deaths. Remarkably, very little was changed in the house or the old black smith shop and mule barn, and to this day, one can see mule tack and hay in the barn from 1917.

The house and other buildings were purchased in 1994 by the State Council on Waterways. It was the intention of SCOW to create a historical site, telling the story of the canal, nearby Lock 52 and the life of the Italian community. A couple years later the house and buildings were purchased by the Canal Society, who had the same goals.

Since that date, much planning and study has been completed, but little physical work has taken place. (Fall 2010 update) The barns and blacksmith shops were raised up off the ground and the lower sections of the buildings were rebuilt and stabilized. There is construction fence around some of the property now.

You are allowed to park near the building and have a look around.

Tour Schedule

2010-02-28T09:38:00.000-08:00

August 14, 2010

This tour is a new idea and we really don’t know what to expect. We have set up a very ambitious schedule for the day and a lot depends on how many people decide to attend the guided tours. We are also looking into the future to make this into a tour package that can be offered to groups.

The distance between the first and last stops is a little more than 12 miles, so it really isn’t a long drive, but with two long walking tours, getting people in and out of their cars and lunch, we will be pushing you along. However, this is not a forced march. The point of having guides is to give you the best tour possible and making this a rewarding day for everyone. And where can you learn so much history for free?

You will be staying with the same tour guide all day. The guide will meet you at the designated stops at the scheduled time. In case you are delayed, please take your time and just catch up. Do not speed, especially in the villages! We have scheduled time for lunch after the Port Byron walking tour.

To help you find your way, I have included GPS coordinates for the parking lot of each stop.

Stop 1 43 03’59.89”N 76 29’45.21”W

Our tour starts at Lock 51 on the enlarged Erie Canal.

Lock 51 is at the western end of what is called the Jordan summit level, a bit of a high spot between Syracuse and Montezuma.

Water from Skaneateles Lake was fed into the canal at Jordan, where it flowed east toward Syracuse and west toward Montezuma. So at Lock 51, we will begin to follow the flow of water westward to Montezuma. Lock 51 is a good place to start since both the first Erie and the enlarged Erie cross the same bit of land, and we can show how the first canal was built and talk about why it was changed during the enlargement.

Lock 51 is located just off Route 31. The two chambers have been partially filled in so you can walk right into the lock and see the rock walls up close.

Tour Schedule- We are allowing 30 minutes for this stop.
If you are west bound, this will be your first stop and start at 9am.

Stop 2 43 03’01.39”N 76 33’44.31”W

Our second stop will be at the Old Brutus Historical Society (OBHS). The Society has a very nice display of local artifacts, dioramas, and a whole army of manikins! If you are not participating in the tours, the OBHS will be open all day from 9am until 3pm for your enjoyment. The Society will also have extra copies of the walking tour guides and any other information that might be handed out during the tours. (Please note that the tour guides are available for a small fee.)

OBHS is .42 miles from the red light at the intersection of Rt’s 31 and 34 (near the Arbys). If you are coming from the west, it is .13 mile from the red light at the intersection of Rt 31 and Brutus Street. Look for the large sign or mural. There is a parking lot on Rt 31 and parking is also permitted on the wide road shoulders. The main entrance is located on Rt 34 in the village, where there are also nice wide shoulders and parking spaces. The OBHS is handicap accessible.

Tour schedule- We are allowing 45 minutes for this stop.
West bound- 9:45am

Stop 3 43 02’35.79”N 76 34’32.37”W

The third stop is the Centerport Aqueduct.

This aqueduct on the enlarged canal carried the Erie across Cold Spring Creek. It will not be a part of the narrated tour, but we are encouraging you to stop and see it, so we have padded the schedule to give you time to see it on your own. There is some very good signage by the parking lot that explains the site. The aqueduct is a short walk from the parking area.

Stop 4 43 02’10.08”N 76 37’28.38”W

The fourth stop is a walking tour in the village of Port Byron.

We will park at the Town Office complex and walk around the village viewing canal and other notable sites. Port Byron’s roots go back to the late 1700’s, when early settlers began to settle around the Owasco Outlet. The canal was opened for business through the village in 1820.

Port Byron was one of a few villages where the canal route was changed during the enlargement. As we walk, we will trace and see the remains of both routes. We will also see the location of three dry docks, the Erie House and Lock 52, and other neat stuff.
This tour covers about 1.5 miles, with a couple of very small rises. All the walking is on pavement, except at the Erie House, where we will be on grass. Parking for this tour will be at the Town Office Building located on Mentz Drive.

Tour schedule- We are allowing 90 minutes for this stop. Please note that both tours will be in Port Byron at the same time, so it is important that we try to get started on time.
West bound- 11am

Stop 5 43 00’37.16”N 76 42’11.58”W

The fifth stop is a walking tour of Montezuma.

Montezuma was a true canal town and it has many great canal sites. Montezuma was the western end of the canal in 1820. We will park at the fire department and walk west to the Seneca River to see the Seneca River Aqueduct. Along the way, we will see the junction of the Cayuga Seneca Canal, a dry dock, a lock site from the first canal, learn about the problems of crossing the Seneca River and learn a little about the barge canal.

This tour covers about 1.6 miles and is flat. However, the walking is all off pavement on grass and dirt (or mud if it has rained). Parking is located at the Fire Department, located on Erie Drive just off Rt 90.

Tour schedule- We are allowing 120 minutes (2 hours) for this stop. There is a lot to see!

West bound- This will be your last stop and starts at 1:30pm.