Tag Archives: Camillus

PACNY At The Camillus Erie Canal Park, 24 August 2014

It was a beautiful day to take a ride on The Erie Canal!

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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.

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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.

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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.

Come Join PACNY For A Summer Afternoon On The Erie Canal!

PACNY has arranged for a special tour of the Erie Canal Park and Aqueduct in Camillus on Sunday, August 24. We will take a boat ride to see the aqueduct beginning at 2 p.m. and then return to shore for a tour of the museum, with refreshments to follow. The cost is $8 for PACNY members and $10 for non-members. This is a family friendly event and kids are free!

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The Erie Canal is one of Central New York’s most important historic features, the engineering breakthrough and transportation marvel that made possible so much of the development in this region. One of the most challenging engineering feats was to have the Erie Canal cross the various rivers and creeks. The present aqueduct in Camillus was built in 1844, using limestone quarried locally at Split Rock, and served as a bridge that carried canal boats over and across Nine Mile Creek. An engineering landmark and a place of great beauty, it was lovingly restored in 2009 and received an award from PACNY.

This will be a fascinating glimpse into Central New York’s Erie Canal heritage, and a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon. We hope you will come with PACNY as we explore this remarkable structure.

meetup-icon_v2This event also has a meetup.com event scheduled! Please consider joining our meetup.com page for additional discussions about the event.