It was a beautiful day to take a ride on The Erie Canal!
PACNY joined forces with the Camillus Erie Canal Park on Sunday, August 24 to provide a tour of the canal. Twelve of us met at the park at 2 p.m., and started with a boat ride through the peaceful waters of the canal out to the aqueduct, a bridge that carries the canal over Nine Mile Creek. Originally built in 1844, it is the only restored navigable aqueduct in New York. The aqueduct recently underwent a $2 million restoration and was given a PACNY award for the importance of restoring this valuable piece of Erie Canal history.
Our guide for the boat tour was Dave Beebe who, with his wife Liz, has spearheaded the preservation of this section of the canal in Camillus. Following the boat tour, Liz Beebe gave us an inside look at the challenges and triumphs that they have had in their efforts to preserve important parts of the local canal history, including a set of lock gates from nearby Gear’s Lock, an original Locktenders House in Jordan, and a lifeboat from the famous Day Peckinpaugh, which was the first motorized boat designed specifically for the enlarged Barge Canal in 1921.
It was a fun and fascinating way to spend a beautiful summer afternoon, and to hear about more efforts to preserve the important history of Central New York.
All photos by Bruce Harvey.
