Albany and Seneca Falls, New York
I know about the Erie Canal, but I don’t think I fully knew about it’s tremendous long lasting impact. George Washington was concerned about the divide between the Atlantic seaboard and the fertile Ohio valley that needed to be bridges or he was concerned it would split the new country apart. He thought the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (which we were on two weeks ago) would be that connection. It ended up being the Erie Canal. An engineering marvel finished in 1825 it was the key conduit for goods, people and ideas into the Midwest and down back the Mississippi to New Orleans. A true connection between East and West.
The previous connection was the rugged overland Cumberland Gap between Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, which we traversed several weeks ago in a still very rural part of the country. The Erie Canal, in contrast, brought economic development and growth to the whole region. It is a key example of what can be accomplished when people are easily connected.
For the last few mornings, we have been able to bike portions of the canal and its tributaries. It has energized us to come back sometime and do the whole 363 mile route from Buffalo to Albany and then continue onto New York City.
Siri and David Adventures 