The Erie Canal: A History Lesson

The Erie Canal is famous in song, story and American history. Proposed as early as 1768, and often sarcastically referred to as New York Governor Dewitt Clinton's “Big Ditch", canal construction broke ground July 4, 1817. The problem was that the land rises about 600 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie in the West. Locks at the time could handle up to 12 feet so at least 50 locks would be required along the 360 miles of canal. Such a canal would cost a fortune today. But in 1800 the expense was barely imaginable, with even forward thinking President Jefferson calling the canal "a little short of madness" and refusing to consider funding the project.

As an engineering marvel when it was built, some have called it the Eighth Wonder of the World. The sides of the cut were lined with stone set in clay, the bottom was also lined with clay and required hundreds of German masons to complete the stonework. It was the first transportation system between the eastern seaboard and the western interior (Great Lakes) of the United States that did not require portage, and cut transport costs by about 95%. The canal fostered a population surge in western New York state, opened regions further west to settlement, and helped New York City become the most important port in the United States.

When finally completed on October 26, 1825, it included 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over ravines and rivers, 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. A ten foot wide towpath was built along the bank of the canal for horses, mules, and oxen led by a boy boat driver known as a hoggee (pronounced HO-gee).



Ten years after its opening, the Erie Enlargement Project was begun in response to the immediate overcrowding of the original canal. By expanding the canal to 70 feet wide and 7 feet deep, it could handle boats carrying 240 tons. At this time the number of locks was reduced 72.

In 1903, the state of New York once again decided to enlarge the canal by the construction of what was termed the "Barge Canal Construction Project”. The new canal system would consist of the Erie Canal and the three chief branches of the State system: the Champlain, the Oswego, and the Cayuga/Seneca Canals. The resulting canal system was completed in 1918.



Today the canal system is 12 to 14 feet deep, 120 to 200 feet wide, 363 miles long from Albany to Buffalo, with 57 locks built to handle barges carrying up to 3,000 tons of cargo and with lifts of 6 to 40 feet. Commercial barge traffic has all but disappeared within the New York Canal System since the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway. Recreational boating and tourism is the main traffic on the canal today with great emphasis being placed on the history and heritage of this great waterway.




In Waterford where the Canal officially begins is the most interesting and creative map of the Canal system. A to scale representation has been made within the sidewalk bricks illustrating the towns and locks along the Canal route.



Etched into the concrete leading to the orginal towpath are a set of mule and young hoggee's footprints.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

With the extra time we spent in Waterford and since from Waterford we could go either to the Erie Canal or Lake Champlain, Captain Mark studied routes, cruising guides, our budgets of both time and money, AGLCA message boards and finally arrived at two distinctly different plans for the remainder of our boating season. Over several days we discussed our overall plans and goals for what has now become a four summer three year boating adventure.

It was clear that we would not be able to do the Erie Canal and also travel to Montreal via Lake Champlain this summer. Being able to stop to really see and visit the cities and towns we pass is our primary goal in making this trip. With just a little less than two months remaining in this season, we needed to decide literally which direction we were going to take.

Finally we decided that we would travel the Erie Canal for the remainder of this summer, dry dock the boat at a location in upstate New York and return to the Midwest for the winter. Next year we will travel to Montreal via the Champlain. Followed by the Rideau Canal, the Trent-Severn Waterway, Georgian Bay, the Great Lakes and return to Chicago to cross our wake and complete our “loop” by October 2010. SO…with all that being decided we are very anxious to start our adventures on the Erie Canal.

Meet Crew Members Irene and Joe

Irene and I went to high school together and were Physical Education Assistants for two years. Back in the day, being a PE assistant, taking advanced PE classes and being a member of GAA (Girl’s Athletic Association) Intramural sports was as close as we came to participating in sports in high school. Title Nine did not coming into being until my high school days were long over. However, Irene went on to participate in AAU gymnastics and swimming and ultimately became a PE teacher. Today, both she and her husband Joe are on staff at West Point as teachers and coaches. When we discovered that we would be in their neck of the woods, it was our fondest hope that we would be able to make our schedules match so that we could spend some long overdue time together.


Joe and Irene drove to Waterford on Friday evening to spend the weekend aboard the Lolligag. It was just like old times as soon as Irene and I saw each other - the chattering and laughing was almost nonstop about this and that and who had done what with whom in the past forty plus years. We looked at pictures, laughed, drank wine, looked at more pictures, laughed even more and drank more wine…Captain Mark and Joe just rolled their eyes at the giggles coming from Irene and me as we looked at high school yearbooks and class reunion photos. It was such a pleasure to meet Joe and to hear all about his experiences as a college athletic coach.



This weekend in Waterford was Heritage Days, celebrating the community’s rich heritage in fire protection and featuring the Button Fire Engine which had been manufactured in Waterford. Friday evening events included a community dinner and fireworks.







Saturday morning following breakfast at the local diner, we watched a parade of fire engines from all eras and then headed to the community athletic field for the “mustering” event. Never having attended a muster before, it was really quite interesting…teams using human pumping power test their skills to see which team can pump water the furthest distance.




All too soon our time together drew to a close. With promises to keep in touch and to join us in the future for a Lolligag cruise, we hugged and laughed some more before wishing each other safe journeys.

A Week in Waterford

It was up early and on our way for the three boat flotilla of the Carolyn Anne, Fidelitas and Lolligag as we pulled away from the city dock in Troy. Just around the bend in the Hudson River we will enter our first lock in since leaving the Dismal Swamp (site of the Lolligag’s television debut) in Virginia during July 2008. Surprisingly, “locking through” is rather like riding a bike…the knowledge and skills do return with almost auto-pilot finesse. Fidelitas and Lolligag are headed the 3.5 miles to Waterford and the Carolyn Anne is headed toward Lake Champlain. So it was that when we came to the parting of the ways there were boat horn honks, thrown kisses and best wishes given for safe journeys.



The Waterford City Docks are the first of the city docks that are available as a cooperative effort between municipalities along the Erie Canal and the state of New York. To promote tourism and the historical significance of the Erie Canal, financial grants have been provided to the cities along the Canal so boaters may receive free or reduced docks rates. This is a win-win situation for everyone as the cities and towns, many of whom have been severely impacted by the financial downturn as the Erie Canal is no longer used as a means to move commercial goods and commerce, can now benefit from the tourism dollar generated by recreational boaters. Each city can set the dock rates that they wish to charge as well as the facilities available.

Dock fees to stay in Waterford are free for the first two nights and then $10 per night thereafter payable to the Waterford Visitor's Center. The pump out fee is $2 and the restroom/shower facilities are certainly above average, making our stay in Waterford financially most refreshing after the major expenses we incurred in NYC. The volunteer staff at the Visitor's Center was extremely helpful and took great pride in their community and heritage. In addition, the local merchants actively cater to the boaters by allowing us to take the shopping carts from the grocery store to the marina area OR they will send a driver to pick us up and take us to their stores. Also, there is a terrific farmer’s market each Sunday morning in Waterford. Every item from local wines to goat cheese is available from a wide variety of local vendors. This was one of the best farmer’s markets that we have seen since leaving the Midwest. Sunday evening we feasted on fresh green beans with Smithfield ham (from our stay in Virginia), new potatoes, corn on the cob and fresh olive bread accompanied by a white wine from a local vineyard.

Originally we had planned to only stay in Waterford for a day or two but when we discovered that my friend Irene and her husband Joe would be able to visit us over the weekend, we decided to stay for a week. This gave us plenty of time for laundry, catching up with our sleep and the ever constant blog writing and picture editing. Of course, this also left lots of time for knitting and I am making great strides in completing the purple lace shawl for my friend Linda.

Hours on the water: 1
Nautical miles traveled: 3.5
Number of bridges to be opened: 0
Time spent waiting at bridge: 0
Number of locks: 1
Next Destination: Amsterdam, NY
Lesson for the day: Waterford was wonderful
Obligatory knitting report: Purple Lace Shawl for BFF Linda

Joy in Troy

The rain stopped just before dawn and the sun was shining as we headed out early from Kingston. Our destination was to be city of Waterford, New York which meant it was going to be long day. The rains of the previous day did little to clear the humidity and as the day wore on, the muggier and more intolerable the weather became.



Again today the Hudson River Valley was stunning with the Catskill Mountains visible in the distance on our port side.



We were so surprised when once again we came upon Freddy Freddy, the vessel with the most unique self-made design. We last saw Freddy Freddy while in Solomons Island, Maryland.

This is the Saugerties Lighthouse.



And a little further along is the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse that sits as an island all by itself in the middle of the Hudson.



Just before Albany we encountered three marinas/yacht clubs very close in proximity to each other whose members found great pleasure in verbally abusing passing boats who they thought were making too large of a wake. Since this chatter was being broadcast via the VHF radio we were able to listen and take note long before we arrived on the scene of screams as Captain Mark and I described the area. How and why this banter was not stopped by the Coast Guard is a mystery as the language was quite interesting and colorful.


As we passed Albany and we were both a little surprised by how there is literally no place to dock or even stop in Albany. Just a little further is the city of Troy, New York where Captain Mark planned to stop for fuel. We reached the fuel dock thinking that we would take on fuel and then head the very short distance to Waterford. However, a wonderful thing happened…Joe the Troy Dockmaster was attending to other business so Don the captain of the Carolyn Anne caught our line and assisted with docking the Lolligag. While we were awaiting the fuel dock to be available, we very quickly became acquainted with Don and his lovely wife Kathleen. They toured the Lolligag and we chatted and by the time Captain Mark was finished fueling up, we had changed our plans, decided to stay the evening in Troy and have dinner with Don and Kathleen.

Just as we finished getting settled into our spot on the dock, Paul and Sandy aboard the Fidelitas pulled in behind us. The Fidelitas is a custom made 43 foot North Pacific Yacht and is truly a beautiful boat. Having now made friends with Paul and Sandy as well, we all went shopping and to brunch on Sunday morning. Since it was raining and none of us had a vehicle Dockmaster Joe graciously loaned us not one of his cars BUT TWO so we could all go together. Naps were required after our decadent and delightful brunch but we all agreed to meet for drinks and the swapping of boat stories aboard the Fidelitas Sunday evening.

Don, Kathleen, Captain Mark and I could hardly contain ourselves in our anticipation to see the inside of Paul and Sandy’s boat. The interior of their boat is simply gorgeous with multiple custom features which enhance the ease of living aboard.



The six of us who had never met before arriving at the Troy City dock simply blended together like long lost friends. We are all at the same point in our lives and our shared excitement about boating cemented our bond. And then to add to our delight, Dockmaster Joe joined us at the end of his shift adding even more humor to our mix.




Uncle Sam resides in Troy

Samuel Wilson (1766-1854) was a meat-packer in Troy whose name is purportedly the source of the personification of the United States known as "Uncle Sam". At the time of the War of 1812, Samuel Wilson obtained a contract to supply beef to the Army, which he shipped in barrels. The barrels, being government property, were branded with the initials "U.S.", but the teamsters and soldiers would joke that the initials referred to "Uncle Sam", who supplied the product. Over time, it is believed, anything marked with the same initials (as much Army property was) also became linked with Wilson's name. The face of Uncle Sam used in the WWI poster is said to be based on a portrait of Sam Wilson.

Hours on the water: 8
Nautical miles traveled: 54.8
Number of bridges to be opened: 0
Time spent waiting at bridge: 0
Number of locks: 0
Next Destination: Waterford, NY
What we are listening to: Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
Lesson for the day: It is the people we meet along the way of our adventure that truly makes this trip memorable
Obligatory knitting report: Purple Lace Shawl for BFF Linda

Captain's Log: Star Date July 31, 2009

Instead of showing "the ponytail" I have decided to share one my favorite pictures from the month of July.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Finally it stopped raining and a beautiful day appeared full of sunshine and cool weather as we headed out early from Scarytown onward to Kingston, NY. I can not state strongly enough how absolutely beautiful upstate New York State becomes the more north we travel. We were totally blown away by the immediate change in terrain when we passed the Harlem River dividing Manhattan from mainland New York, but the Hudson Valley that we travel through as we make our way north just becomes truly breathtaking. I can only imagine how gorgeous this way must be in the fall months when the leaves change colors. It is my hope that when we come back with the pickem-up truck this fall that we may be able to drive through this area as the leaves are changing.

Hudson Valley surrounding West Point Military Academy is stunning almost beyond words. A dear friend of mine from high school and her husband are on staff at West Point as teachers/coaches and it is our sincere hope that we will be able to connect with them in the near future. West Point sits high atop the cliffs of the Hudson. The river forms whirlpools as it winds around and through the sharp cuts in the mountainous terrain. Access via the river is no longer allowed for transient boaters at West Point so we were unable to stop to tour the campus.



This the castle in the river that we have heard so much about when researching our trip on the Hudson. Pollepel Island was discovered during the first navigation of the Hudson River by early Dutch settlers. There are accounts Native Americans believed the island was haunted and European settlers also told tales about it, including the legend of Polly Pell, invented to explain the island's name after its Dutch origins had been forgotten. It is also said that sailors making their first journey up the Hudson River were left stationed at the island until the ship returned as a rite of passage.


Francis Bannerman VI purchased the island in 1900 not for a residence but for use as a storage facility for his growing surplus business. At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War Bannerman bought 90% of the US army surplus, including a large quantity of ammunition. Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough, and to provide a safe location to store munitions, in the spring of 1901 he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel Island. Bannerman designed the buildings himself and let the constructors interpret the designs on their own. On the side of the castle facing the eastern bank of the Hudson, Bannerman cast the legend "Bannerman's Island Arsenal" into the wall to serve as advertisement of his surplus business. Today, the castle is property of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is mostly in ruins. The island has been the victim of vandalism, trespass, neglect and decay. While the exterior walls still stand, all the internal floors and non-structural walls have since burned down.

Also at approximately this spot on the Hudson River American Revolunitary forces attempted to attempted to prevent the British from passing upriver by emplacing 106 upright logs tipped with iron points between the island and Plum Point across the river.
Caissons from several chevaux de frise still rest at the river bottom. However, these obstructions did not stop a British flotilla from burning Kingston in 1777.


Saying hello and goodbye as boaters travel the Hudson is the most charming lighthouse that sits and indicates the entrance to Rondout Creek and the city of Kingston.

Speaking of Kingston, fortunately the city was rebuilt following that nastiness during the Revolution. In sharp contrast to Tarrytown, Kingston is one of the most welcoming communities that we have visited thus far. From the minute we hailed the harbor master to our departure two days later we were greeted, welcomed, chatted with by literally everyone strolling the waterside or along the streets. People often comment on the Lolligag as many have never seen a Nordic Tug before. We had an unusual number of requests for tours of our boat while in Kingston. We are always proud to show off the Lolligag and to do our small part to promote Nordics. For a small town, Kingston had several good restaurants of which Ship to Shore was our very favorite. We also found a very good wine shop which carried several New York local wines. Of course, we sampled eats and drinks at each.


An interesting structure in Kingston was the Healing Circle Arbor which is dedicated to cancer victims and survivors. As a place for contemplation and reflection, the arbor is also said to provide positive energy and good karma for all who seek peace and reflection within the dome. As a cancer survivor, I found the Healing Circle structure to be comforting and encouraging.



Here is the defining difference between Tarrytown and Kingston: While Tarrytown had clean restrooms/showers, Kingston’s facilities were being painted and were therefore unusable during our stay. However the friendly, courteous and outgoing way we were treated more than made up for the lack of facilities. After all, we almost always use the facilities aboard the Lolligag anyway making the people we meet the most important factor in determining the quality of a visit.

Hours on the water: 8
Nautical miles traveled: 57
Number of bridges to be opened: 0
Time spent waiting at bridge: 0
Number of locks: 0
Next Destination: Waterford, NY
What we are listening to: Finished Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Lesson for the day: Kingston is a wonderful place to visit
Obligatory knitting report: Purple Lace Shawl for BFF Linda

Two Days in Scarytown

After visiting and spending time in Tarrytown, we have decided that the area should be renamed Scarytown. Not every port, town or marina can be spectacular or exciting and we found this to be the case in Tarrytown. The marina restrooms were clean and the diesel fuel was reasonably priced and that pretty much sums up the high points of our Tarrytown adventure. Of all the marinas/docks that we have visited in our ten plus years of boating with the big boys, I don’t think we have ever encountered a marina staff less willing to assist us or less knowledgeable of the surrounding locale. If it had not been foggy and raining heavily on the morning following our arrival, I think we would have moved on, but since we could not see across the river due to the fog, we decided to stay put another day before heading to Kingston.



Two completely different “residents” make Tarrytown scary…one is fictional and one is much more subtle. Tarrytown's positive claim to fame is American author Washington Irving. It was in Tarrytown that Washington Irving became familiar with the nearby town of Sleepy Hollow with its quaint Dutch customs and local ghost stories. From these stories, Irving created Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. In 1835, Irving purchased a "neglected cottage" and its surrounding riverfront property in Tarrytown, New York. The home named Sunnyside is visible from the Hudson River just before approaching Tarrytown.

The second factor that makes Tarrytown scary is infamous Sing Sing Prison that is located several miles from the center of town. I always thought that Sing Sing was a fictional prison but it is live and well and living in upstate New York. In fact, the prison is not really in the town of Tarrytown at all but in the municipality of Ossining, NY. Originally the prison was named after the town of Sing Sing but then the town opted to change its name so that the residents would not be thought to be imprisoned. The phrase “to be sent upriver” was derived from prisoners being convicted in New York City and being sent up the Hudson River to Sing Sing Prison which is located immediately on the shores of the Hudson.

However and most importantly, we met the crew Of Mr G from St Petersburg, Florida who docked next to us. It is our hope to see Lenore and David often in the future as our paths cross while traveling on the Hudson and the Erie Canal.