Celebrate the Erie Canal Bicentennial
The Lockport Flight was one of the most challenging parts of the canal to build. The staircase of five sets of locks was blasted through the solid rock of the Niagara escarpment. The locks lift and lower boats 49-feet. Photo credit: National Parks Service: Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
Building the Erie Canal presented by author Rosemary Nichols
Saturday August 16th at 3 PM
Canaan Town Hall, County Route 5 south of State Route 295
The Canaan Historical Society is excited to offer an opportunity to learn about the technological innovations that were developed by necessity for the building of the Erie Canal. There were no trained engineers in America in the early 1800’s when the canal was just an idea. Stephen Van Rensselaer, co-founded RPI in 1824 because of the Erie Canal.
Speaker Rosemary Nichols is author of Building the Erie Canal, Murder in Rome. She lives in Watervliet, NY at the eastern end of the Erie Canal, a long-time interest of hers. She also enjoys learning about 19th century technology. She is on the advisory committee of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway in Troy, NY. Rosemary spent more than forty years practicing law before writing full time.
There will be a short Historical Society Annual Meeting prior to the lecture and a reception will follow.