The Erie Canal was the "super-highway" of the 19th century. This 363-mile, manmade waterway carried goods and people from NYC to Buffalo and beyond, to populate what was then the western reaches of a new nation. It also carried much needed raw materials and finished goods back to what soon became the largest marketplace port in America, New York City. This 4-ft deep, 40-ft wide "ditch" changed the course of water and history, in New York State, in the United States and yes, even in Wayne County, New York. 

Wayne County is home to over 30 miles of the canal waterway and another 30+ miles of the official Erie Canalway Trail which travels over much of the same route as the original towpath laid out for mules which pulled the commercial laden barges and passenger packet boats. Steam engines were also used but not by all.

There are five major townships along the canal system, and each one unique in it's connection to the canal. From the west, Macedon has Lock 30 just north of their downtown, at the Canalside Park and Butterfly Trail. Next, Palmyra is known as Queen of the Canal with a small dock and historic district that touts an original canal depot. Passing through widewaters (and a sliver of Ontario County known as Port Gibson), Aracadia's Village of Newark is investing in a beautiful canal side district and amphitheater. Lyons, the county seat, has one of the last "urban" locks (#27) within the old village limits and the nearby Peppermint Museum, while Clyde too has invested in their canal park called Lauraville Landing where the Canalway Trail along Rt. 31 diverts back onto the old towpath. The most eastern town center of Savannah is further north than the route of the canal, but it shares the southern border of their town with the canal as it passes through the Montezuma wetlands heading toward the world famous, Richmond Aqueduct and the Seneca-Cayuga canal that connects boaters to the Finger Lakes. 

What impact did this massive 19th century public works project have on these local towns that barely dotted the upstate regions of NYS? What impact did it have on the native American population of the Iroquois and the Haudenosaunee? Who was employed to survey and to dig such a ditch? How did the other towns in the rest of the county take advantage of this method to get to market quicker, cheaper and profitably? How many freedom seekers were transported to safer havens along the banks of Erie Canal? How did the big ditch aid in the religious revivalism of the 1800's? Why are there so many names and often different remnants and routes of the canal?

The Museum of Wayne County History will attempt to answer these questions and capture the essence of the Erie Canal in our community. We will tell you who dug it and show you some of the tools they used. We will explain to you the three different, sometimes quite divergent paths of the canal, and we will celebrate the recreation and the artistry that has followed the canal into the 21st century.  

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Join us this year at the Museum and at one of the many events to honor the legacy, the majesty, and resiliency of the Erie Canal, for 200 years in Wayne County.