Camillus Erie Canal Park is a town park in
Camillus, New York
Camillus is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 24,167 at the 2010 census.
The Town of Camillus is west of Syracuse. There is also a village named Camillus in the town. Much of the town is a western suburb ...
that preserves a seven-mile (11 km) stretch of the
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
. It includes the
Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct
Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct is a restored stone and wood aqueduct of the Erie Canal over Nine Mile Creek in Camillus, New York, United States. It was built in 1841 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The towpath
...
, which is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The aqueduct underwent a $2 million restoration, completed in August 2009, which brought it back to navigable condition.
The park consists of along seven miles (11 km) of the old canal stretching from Warners Road to Newport Road.
The park contains a replica of Sims' Store, a mid-19th-century canal store originally located about two miles east. The store is operated as a museum and gift shop. Other historic features include a salvaged set of lock gates from Old Erie Canal Lock 50 (Gere's Lock), a waste weir, a feeder canal, and the remnants of an earlier lock and aqueduct that were in use from 1825 to the mid-1840s. The remains of the original 1825 canal ("Clinton's Ditch") can also be viewed from a nature trail. The exact midpoint of the original Albany-Buffalo canal route is located in the park and denoted with a sign.
A separate display at the park features a
Corliss steam engine
A Corliss steam engine (or Corliss engine) is a steam engine, fitted with rotary valves and with variable valve timing patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss of Providence, Rhode Island.
Engines ...
rescued from a downtown Syracuse factory.
In 2007, the existing towpath between the Camillus park and the village of Jordan was improved to a stone dust trail as part of the
New York State Canalway Trail
The New York State Canalway Trail is a network of multi-use trails that runs parallel to current or former sections of the Erie, Oswego, Cayuga-Seneca, and Champlain canals. When completed, the system will have of trails following current and ...
project. There is much to be done in developing a continuous trail further.
See also
*
Jordan Canal Park
Jordan Canal Park in Jordan, New York includes the Jordan Aqueduct, which carried the Erie Canal over Skaneateles Creek
Skaneateles Creek is a river in New York, the United States. It drains Skaneateles Lake to the Seneca River. It flows throug ...
*
Old Erie Canal State Historic Park
The Old Erie Canal State Historic Park encompasses a linear segment of the original Erie Canal's Long Level section. It extends westward from Butternut Creek in the town of DeWitt, just east of Syracuse, to the outskirts of Rome, New York. The ...
*
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, also known as Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, is a historic district that includes the ruins of the Erie Canal aqueduct over Schoharie Creek, and a long part of the Erie Canal, in the towns of Glen an ...
References
External links
Camillus Erie Canal Park and The Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct(official site)
Erie Canal parks, trails, and historic sites
Parks in Onondaga County, New York
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