Category: New York

July 21-22, 2017 Friday & Saturday

July 21-Friday: Today was a lovely day, beautiful homes, small river homes, farms, corn, hay, herons, kingfishers, otters, eagles and more, great cruise down the river. The sad part is that they have had so much rain that many docks are under water and the water is inching towards their homes.

As we transited one of the locks, I asked the lockmaster if there were any female lockmasters on the Erie, we had not seen one. He said he thought there was one or two but should be more. He then disappeared into his building and came back out with an application form for me, maybe my new calling.

At Mile 201.38, canal junction of the Erie and Cayuga-Seneca Canals, we decided to take Lee’s advice and do a side trip to Seneca Falls, which is about 8 miles south of the Erie Canal. To get there we had to transit Lock CS1 – 7.5 feet and the ‘stair case locks’ at CS2 and CS3 – both 25 feet, they are called stair case locks because you go directly from one lock into the next lock.

In the early 1800’s Seneca Falls was a thriving mill town, when Seneca River was dammed near the current Locks C2 & C3 it created a 50-foot deep lake, Van Cleef Lake, that submerged many of the mills and much of downtown Seneca Falls. We are looking forward to visiting the town as it is known as the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, houses the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and claims to be the town that Bedford, from the 1946 film “It’s A Wonderful Life,” was modeled after.

Tonight we are at Seneca Falls Free Dock and plan to stay until Sunday, most of the free docks have a 48-hour limit.

July 22-Saturday: This has been the coolest day we have had in months, it was so pleasant. We spent most of the day exploring the town and visiting several of their museums, starting at the Seneca Museum which showcased the development and reform movements of the area.

The First Women’s Rights Convention took place at Wesleyan Chapel in July 1848. Outside the chapel is a waterwall with the Declaration of Sentiments engraved in stone. This document is recognized as the founding document of the women’s rights movement and is modeled after the Declaration of Independence, boldly proclaiming that “all men and women are created equal.”
The Seneca Falls Historical Society is located in a 23 room 1880 Queen Ann Style Mansion, unfortunately, by the time we made it there they were closed. While looking at the Historical Society buildings we were chatted-up by a local couple who shared much of the town history with us. She was born in Clyde, NY he, an ex-FBI agent in Seneca Falls. They shared stories about the town and showed us the street that led into the valley before it was flooded. Fun day!

 

July 19-20,2017  Wednesday & Thursday

July 19-Wed: Anxious to move on, we left Ilion Marina and headed for Sylvan Beach, home of the only amusement park on the Erie Canal. However, we were not headed for the amusement park but for a place to stay while we waited for the right conditions to cross Oneida Lake. Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York State, 21 miles long, 5 miles wide with an average depth of 22 feet. In a sustained west wind, the waves can become 4 to 5 feet, creating an uncomfortable crossing. It looks like Sunday will be the best day but we are hoping we can leave before then.

Before arriving at Mariner’s Landing we transited four locks. Lock #19 – 21 feet, Lock #20 -16 feet, Lock #21 – 25 feet, and Lock #22 – 25 feet. Locks #21 and #22 are our first down locks on the Erie so although we transited 87 feet at the end of the day we were only 13 feet lower.

July 20-Thur: After checking the weather forecast late Wednesday, we decided an early morning crossing of Oneida Lake was do-able. By daybreak, we were ready to make our crossing. The wind was a little more than predicted, waves were one-two feet for the first half of the trip and almost zero for the rest of the crossing and we were in Brewerton by 8:00 am.

At Brewerton, we transited Lock # 23 – 7 feet, the last of the down locks when going west. The junction of the Erie and Oswego Canals is at mile 160.45, decision time, stay on the Erie or take the Oswego to Canada, we stayed on the Erie. Our last lock of the day was Lock #24 – 11 feet at Baldwinsville. We tied up at the Baldwinsville Free Dock, or as some call it Graveyard Dock, just in time for a rain storm.

The past two days we have been locking with Nellie Bell, a 25-foot Nimble. Tonight her captain dropped by and recommended a side trip to Seneca Falls on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. We’ll have to give that some thought.

 

July 18, 2017,  Tuesday

The rain and debris continue to keep us in port. This morning we had breakfast with the crew of s/v Solitude, Dale and Carol, at the local Farm House Restaurant, we have had a great time trading books, sharing information, and telling tall tales.

The big news of the day was that the replicas of Christopher Columbus’ Ships, the Niña (65 feet in length), and the Pinta (85 feet in length), stopped for the night at Ilion Marina. Wow, talk about ‘word of mouth’ although the stop was unexpected, by the end of the evening we think every family in town came by to check them out.

Starting in 1492, Columbus sailed the Niña across the Atlantic on three voyages to the new world. At over 25,000 miles, this makes our trip look like a kid’s birthday party. Built by hand from 1988-1991, the current Niña is considered the most historically accurate replica ever constructed. The ships belong to the Columbus Foundation and serve as museums to educate the public on 15th-century sailing. They are currently traveling along the Erie Canal on their way to Oswego, NY.

July 17 , 2017  Monday

Today we visited the Remington Arms museum, which is part of the original E. Remington Company in Ilion, NY. It has a nice selection of the rifles, pistols, art work, and other products made during the early history of the company. Before 9-11 you were able to tour the plant to see how arms were made, but now, in lieu of a tour, you can watch videos to see the process of arms making and to learn the history of the company.

At 23, Eliphalet Remington hand-made a flintlock rifle that he used in a shooting match, although he came in second, his gun so impressed other shooters that many of them requested a rifle of the same quality be made for them. That was the beginning of what would become E. Remington Company. By 1861, Remington had established itself as a premier firearm manufacturer and received many government contracts to supply arms for the civil war. After the Civil War, without government contracts, the company struggled to survive. It was during that time they turned to the manufacturing of other products such as; bridges, bicycles, typewriters, and other various items, some of which can be viewed at the museum.

Our original plan was to visit the museum and then continue on the canal, but it seems that Mother Nature has decided to make this an unusually wet summer which translates into an unusual amount of debris in the canal. The boats coming into the marina were recommending not going, we took their advice and stayed another night at the marina.

July 16, 2017  Sunday

What we like about renting from Enterprise is that they will pick us up and drop us off at our marina. This time the car was a little pricey so we rented it for only one day. Since the Herkimer Enterprise office was closed on Sunday we needed to find a different way home, since it was such a nice day we decided to drop the car off, tour the town, have lunch, and walk the 3.7 miles back to the boat.

During the American Revolution, the residents in this area were protected by Fort Dayton. In 1777 General Nicholas Herkimer mustered the Tryon County Militia here to march west in order to aid Col. Peter Gansevoort at Fort Stanwix. They were all fatally ambushed at Oriskany, five miles short of their goal. In 1788, after the Revolution was over and Fort Dayton was dismantled, the Village of Herkimer was established and in 1788 Herkimer became the county seat.

On our tour of the city, we passed many beautiful homes, churches, and public buildings. Four of Herkimer’s most historical buildings can be found at the corner of Church and Main Streets: the 1834 Herkimer County Jail, the 1834 Herkimer Reformed Church, the 1873 Herkimer County Courthouse, and the 1884 Suiter Building.
In 1906, Chester Gillette was interned at Herkimer County Jail during his famous trial for the murder of Grace Brown, the trial was held at the Herkimer County Courthouse with Gellette being convicted of murder. This murder was the basis for the novel “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser. The 1834 Reformed Church was built on the same site as the 1722 church that was built by the Palantine Germans that arrived in this area after fleeing religious persecution in Europe and is still active. The 1884 Suiter Building is now the home of the Herkimer County Historical Society.

The current Folts Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing was originally The Folts Mission Institute, which opened in 1893 as a training school for young women.

A more recent icon of Herkimer, the Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner, housed in a 1952 Vintage Mountain View prefabricated diner, was our lunch destination. Our first lunch in a classic New York dinner was just what we hoped for, excellent food, good service, and a fantastic people watching location. After that lunch, we needed that walk back to the boat.

July 15, 2017  Saturday (con’t)

Saturday was a busy day, after leaving Little Falls we visited the Fort Stanwix National Monument in Rome, New York.  Completed in 1762, Fort Stanwix, a colonial star fort, was built to guard the Oneida Carrying Place, the portage path between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, during the French and Indian War. Today, Fort Stanwix National Monument occupies that same location. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation for the creation of the national monument in 1935 but it did not become a reality until 1976, just in time for the United States Bicentennial celebration. A great place to learn more about the fort and the monument is at the National Parks website.

The American Flag was first authorized by Congress June 14, 1777 and according to local legend, on August 3, 1777, the first stars and stripes were created out of “a soldier’s white shirt, strips of fabric from a woman’s red petticoat and the blue straps from Captain Abraham Swartwout’s cloak.”

 

 

July 12-14, 2017  Tuesday-Friday

July 12-Wed: We first encountered Lois McClure and her side kick, companion tug, C.L. Churchill, at Waterford but did not know their mission. Last night they also stayed at the Schenectady Yacht Club, and today we transited through Lock #9 with them. Lois McClure is a full-scale replica of an 1862-class sailing boat and belongs to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Her sidekick is the C.L. Churchill, a 50 year old wooden tugboat that was named Tug of the Year for the 2014 Waterford Tugboat Roundup.

Together they are on a Canal Legacy Tour that will pay tribute to the legacy of the canals and the Northern Forest. Through an initiative called Stem to Stern, the crew of these vessels will share their maritime perspective on the relationship between waterways and trees, canal boats and forests.

We pulled into the Amsterdam Riverlink Park only to find out that the electric panel gave us the message “reverse polarity” when we connected our cord so we left Amsterdam and continued up the canal. At Fonda, we were able to get 15 amps by dragging a hundred foot cord across a grassy field to plug in at the Canal Corp Maintenance Dock. By the end of the day, we had transited Locks 8-12 for a total lift of 67 feet.

July 13-Thur: The plan for today was to go to Canajoharie, hike to the boiling pots, and visit the local Art Gallery collection of 350 paintings by American artist Winslow Homer. I read that Canajoharie has the most original architecturally intact Erie Canal commercial district on the Mohawk River and we were looking forward to our visit. As luck would have it, there was no room at the dock so we continued on to St. Johnsville. Today we transited Locks 13-15 for a total lift of 44 feet.
July 14-Fri: Today we transited Locks 16-18 for a total of 80 feet. Before entering the locks we thought that Lock #17 would be the most challenging, it is the highest lock in the canal, 40 feet, and requires that you lock through on the port side. Each boat has its own unique quirks and Andiamo is easier to handle with a starboard tie. Instead, Lock #18 at 20 feet, was the most difficult. Just as we entered the lock the wind increased and changed direction making it difficult to hang onto the ropes, we were happy that that was the last lock of the day. If you look closely at the pictures of Lock #17 you will see that it is unique in that the entrance gate is lifted above the boat instead of out, this ensures a wet ride through the entrance as the water drains off of the lock door above.

Tonight we are at the Ilion Community Marina, where we will stay for the weekend.

July 11, 2017  Monday

Before entering our first Erie Canal Lock we decided to watch Papa Tango and Donna Mae transit the lock.

When it was our turn, we entered the lock followed by m/v Ramble On, with loopers Linda & Scott aboard, and two other boats.  It took about ninety minutes to complete the Waterford Flight and the two guard gates at the end of the flight. The guard gates are lift gates so you can count on your boat getting wet as you drive under them.

The Waterford Flight consists of Lock #2 (34’), Lock #3 (35’), Lock #4 (35’), Lock #5 (33’), and Lock #6 (33’), for a total rise of 170 feet in just one and a half miles. With a motor these are pretty easy to transit, however, on the original Erie Canal, a ten-foot wide towpath had to be built along the bank of the canal so that hoggees, young boys driving the mules, could pull boats along the narrow canal.

Before arriving at the Schenectady Yacht Club for the evening, we locked through Lock #7 (27’), for a daily total of 197 feet. Behind the yacht club is one of the 1862 locks. Just past the yacht club, at the Balltown Road Bridge, are the remains of the 1842 Rexford Aqueduct.

The sun reflecting off the Mohawk River Cliffs made for a picturesque evening.

 

 

July 10, 2017  Monday

In Rome, NY, on July 4th, 1817, ground was broken for the Erie Canal. In 2017, two hundred years later, the canal is celebrating its bicentennial. Lucky us, in honor of the bicentennial, all canal fees are waived this year.

Proposed in 1808 and completed in 1825, the canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east. In the beginning, many called the concept of the canal “Clinton’s Folly,” believing that, the then Governor of New York, was just wasting taxpayers money. In the end, it was an engineering marvel that some called the Eighth Wonder of the World. More important than being the Eighth Wonder of the World, the opening of the canal played an important role in the westward expansion.

The original canal was hand dug to a depth of 4 feet and width of 40 feet, in the late 1800’s it was enlarged to 7 feet deep and 70 feet wide. The next improvement increased the canal to today’s current dimensions of 12 to 14 feet deep, 120 to 200 feet wide, and 338 miles long. going from Waterford to Tonawanda.

In this improvement, five large locks on the Waterford side of the canal replaced the original sixteen locks that had brought the old canal through Cohoes. The ‘Waterford Flight’ of five locks raises boats from 15.2 feet to 180 feet above sea level, in just a short 1.5 miles, this is the world’s greatest vertical lift in such a short distance.

The canal starts at Lock #2 and goes to Lock #35, with two locks at #28, 28A & 28B and no lock numbered 1 or 31, a total of 34 locks. At each lock, there will be an information sign so that we will know how far it is to the next lock. Tonight we are tied to the Waterford Free Dock and primed to start our Erie Canal journey first thing tomorrow.

July 9, 2017  Sunday

I’m sad to say that this was our last day on the Hudson River, we have loved being on the Hudson. The sights, sounds, people, and history have made the trip exactly what we had imagined. We have learned so much.

Leaving our marina, we cruised under the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, past Castleton-On-Hudson, past Albany, the capital of NY, and into Troy where we entered the Troy Lock. It was our honor to share the locks with a gaggle of about fifty geese. They were waiting at the lock doors when we arrived and kept us well entertained while we were locking through.

After locking though, we made a left hand turn onto the Mohawk River and tied up to the free dock at Waterford, NY. Waterford was part of the Van Schaick land patent of 1687 and is the oldest incorporated village in the US, having been incorporated in 1794. Sad to leave the Hudson but, excited about experiencing the Erie Canal.