The D&R Canal trail is a recreational trail in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The trail is made up of three segments that transverse three counties: a canal

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...

from

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

to Trenton; a canal towpath/

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

from Trenton to Bull's Island; and a rail trail from Bull's Island to Frenchtown. The three combined trails together form the largest completed trail in New Jersey. Much of the trail runs along the existing

Delaware & Raritan Canal The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philade ...

within the

Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park is a New Jersey state park along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. History In 1974, most of the canal system was declared a New Jersey state park. It remains one today, and is used for canoeing, kayaking, an ...

. There is no direct connection between the main and feeder canal paths along the Delaware River. Signed on-street connections are required to traverse the trail system in its entirety. The proposed

Capital to Coast Trail The Capital to Coast Trail is a cross-state multi-use trail network that is designed to span the state of New Jersey (west to east) from the Delaware River in Trenton to the beach front town of Manasquan on the Atlantic Ocean. The cross-state tra ...

is planned to connect to the D&R Canal Trail. The trail is also part of the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991. ...

, a 3,000 mile long trail system connecting Maine to Florida.

Main canal towpath

The main canal

trail is long and constructed on the earthen towpath used by

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

s to pull

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s along the canal. The majority of the path was resurfaced in early 2011, however flooding by

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...

has scoured off the trail's top surface on the

end leaving a coarse surface suitable for only pedestrians and mountain bikers. The main entrance in New Brunswick is at the Landing Lane Bridge. Access Points *

/ Landing Lane Bridge * Route 287/

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

* Bound Brook * Manville Causeway/

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

* Amwell Road * Griggstown Causeway,

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

* Alexander Street,

Feeder canal towpath/rail trail

The feeder canal was used to supply water to the main canal from the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

. The towpath/rail-trail's surface is sand and crushed stone. The feeder canal trail, including the rail trail to Frenchtown is long. The trail begins in Trenton near Route 1 and ends north of Frenchtown. Access Points *

Washington Crossing State Park Washington Crossing State Park is a New Jersey state park that is part of Washington's Crossing, a U.S. National Historic Landmark area. It is located in the Washington Crossing and Titusville sections of Hopewell Township in Mercer County, ...

* Lambertville (on street parking) * Jimison Farm * Stockton * Prallsville * Bull's Island

Rail trail

Technically, the D&R canal starts near Bull's Island (now a state campground) in Raven Rock where it connects to the Delaware River; the trail north of the Bull's Island inlet is a rail trail built on the former rail bed of the Pennsylvania Railroad Belvidere Division; the surface is

crushed stone Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers. It is distinct from naturally occurring gravel, which i ...

. Bordered by Route 29 on the east and the Delaware River on the west, there are few access points along its length. The railroad line was originally built in the 1850s by the

Belvidere Delaware Railroad The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del, 1851–1871) was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to the small village of Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It becam ...

which subsequently became a subsidiary of the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company. In the early 1870s, the railroad was leased by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(PRR) and became an important freight branch. Competition from federally funded highways and automobiles caused passenger service to end by 1960. The government-created entity

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

abandoned portions of the line between Trenton and Milford in the late 1970s. All trackage was removed by 1982. Much of the feeder canal path is actually a rail-trail; the only official towpath segments are in Trenton and Lambertville. The railroad is still present in Lambertville. Major Access Points (with parking) * Bulls Island * Frenchtown

External links

Official D&R Canal Park site

guide Feeder path map

Jimison Farm website
{{DEFAULTSORT:DandR Canal Trail Rail trails in New Jersey Bike paths in New Jersey Protected areas of Hunterdon County, New Jersey Protected areas of Mercer County, New Jersey Protected areas of Middlesex County, New Jersey Protected areas of Somerset County, New Jersey National Recreation Trails in New Jersey Delaware and Raritan Canal