Starting the Erie Canal

Saturday June 9th our friends Ron and Robin Terry along with Lacey and Davis Toney arrived in Waterford, NY for a long weekend.  We were excited for them to be with us to start the Erie Canal.

Selfie left to right (Captain Ron, Gail, Lacey, Davis, Robin, Captain Keith)

Pengi on the mule in downtown Waterford

Mules were used to pull boats through the original canal

Southern Style docked in downtown Waterford

Farmer's Market along the docks in Waterford on Sunday morning

After breakfast and a stroll through the little farmer's market on Sunday morning June 10th, we all got ready to start through the beginning of the Erie Canal.  In 1817 NY Governor, Dewitt Clinton, convinced the NY legislature to authorize 7 million dollars for construction of a canal from Buffalo, NY on the eastern shore of Lake Erie to Albany, NY on the upper Hudson River.  The canal would be 363 miles long.  It would open in 1825 with Clinton sailing on the packet boat Seneca Chief on the canal from Buffalo to Albany and then down the Hudson River to New York City.  He brought with him 2 casks of water from Lake Erie and poured them into the Atlantic Ocean in a ceremony to be called the Marriage of the Waters.  Since its opening in 1825 the canal has had 3 significant changes to both its route and structure to modernize it and accommodate larger boats.

Portion of the original canal still present in Waterford

By the later part of the 1900s, commercial traffic on the canal had dramatically declined and today the Erie Canal is primarily used a recreational and historic resource.

This is lock #2 opening just in front of the downtown Waterford docks

Single boat down at the bottom of Lock #2

Lock #3 doors closed as we approached with Southern Style

Here we are getting ready to enter a lock

Left to right ( Captain Ron, Captain Keith, Davis, Lacey, and Robin)

New York State Canal Boats along the Erie Canal

Guard gate

Protection if flooding or lock failure occurs

Sunday Southern Style and her crew completed the first 5 locks on the Erie canal starting in Waterford.  These locks are known as the Flight of 5.  They lift or lower boats 169 feet from the first to the last lock.  This is a distance twice as much as the total lift from sea level to the summit of the Panama Canal.  It is also the greatest distance lifted or lower in the shortest space of any canal in the world.

We all had a great experience on Sunday going through the locks and we docked in Schenectady, NY at the new Mohawk Harbor Marina.  They are just getting up and running.  There are condos at the marina and a casino as well.  After a really nice Italian meal we crashed for the night.  Our friends had to fly back home on Monday and we were sorry to see them leave so soon, but thankful to have had them for the weekend.