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    Seward Park

    5.0 (1 review)

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    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park - Old Erie Canal Heritage Park, Port Byron

    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park

    4.7(10 reviews)
    8.2 mi

    Super interesting to learn about the Erie Canal at this "heritage park" that is also a bit of a…read moremuseum. Nearly eight years to construct, it was completed in 1825 and linked Albany New York with Buffalo, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. It was the greatest engineering accomplishment at the time, some 563 miles of canals across the state. But as times changed and canals were no longer the most efficient method of transport, much of the Erie Canal has been abandoned. Steamships and later more modern barges go around New England along the Saint Lawrence Seaway. And then it switched to railroads and later, trucks on superhighways like the one I used to get here. This parking area is for passenger vehicles and RVs only. Trucks are not permitted. There is a four hour parking limit. [Review 1535 of 2024 - 451 in New York - 22558 overall]

    "Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal." Can't get that song out of my head while I'm here. (You can find…read moreit on y'all tube: https://youtu.be/gIIM1mHfJ0U ) The first question that seems to come up when I talk about abandoned locks is "Why was it abandoned and where is the water?" Without going into an elaborate history of the Erie Canal (tough for me to do) the original "Clinton's Ditch" was "4 and 40," that is, 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, which soon became too small. The Erie Canal was widened to "7 and 70," that is, 7 feet deep and 70 feet wide and in many places was moved. This is one of those cases. This lock was built as a part of the newly widened Erie Canal and used until about 1917 when the canal was widened once again, and also rerouted to the north which bypassed Port Byron entirely. Lock 52 was abandoned, now preserved for your enjoyment. You can access the lock as a rest area on the eastbound New York Thruway at mile marker 309 but if you're not on the superslab, you can access the lock from NY 31 (Rochester Road) in Port Byron. There is a museum and display inside the building you can check out before (or after) you access the lock itself. The museum is not a comprehensive history of the canal system in New York, which is probably fine for those of short attention spans or those who are itching to get back on the Thruway and make time. There is an incredible model of the lock that was created for the 1893 Columbian Exposition (the "White City") in Chicago. For some reason, the model is a mirror image of the prototype. Just the same, viewing the model gives one a mental image of how the locks worked in the halcyon days of the Erie Canal. Just outside the door is a three-sided kiosk with three interpretive panels that describe the lock, tell you about the original canal system and how it is currently configured, and what the canal meant to the town of Port Byron. The lock is an interesting juxtaposition of 19th Century transportation technology with 21st Century communications technology. In other words, you can download an app to your cell phone and access audio descriptions of points in the lock and the historical park. With the app, you can be your own docent and virtual tour guide! As you walk up the trail that was the towpath, you'll find a collection of buildings that were a part of the Port Byron lock environment. You'll find a tavern, a blacksmith shop, and a mule barn. Animals were well cared for on the Erie Canal, the animals were a key component on the canal. From that spot, you can observe the original canal leading up to the locks. Note the ashlar stone lining the canal. There was a dry dock across the way, it was filled in after the canal was relocated in 1917. Incidentally, there was originally only one lock here, the shorter of the two. It was "twinned" with a larger lock so barges coupled together could lock through without the delay and expense of being untied to lock through separately. It also allowed eastbound traffic to lock through while while westbound traffic could lock through at the same time. Don't rush out to see it just yet. First of all, it's open limited hours. The museum is seasonal and I might have been the last guest of 2020. (I was there late in the afternoon on Halloween, the last day of the year.) The museum will reopen on April 1, 2021 and hopefully we won't need masks anymore.

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    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park
    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park - Old Erie Canal Heritage Park, Port Byron

    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park, Port Byron

    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park - Old Erie Canal Heritage Park, Port Byron

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    Old Erie Canal Heritage Park, Port Byron

    Seward Park - parks - Updated May 2026

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