In the historical museum at The Works, one of the most interesting things that caught our eye was that of the Ohio and Erie Canal.  We’d heard of the Erie Canal, of course, but hadn’t realized that it once extended into much of Ohio.

A county guidebook that we’d picked up somewhere along the way mentioned the Triple Locks of the canal in Dresden.  Since we were already near Dresden basket-hunting, we made our way to the canal and locks.

Here in Minnesota, we’re familiar with lock systems on the Mississippi River, so even the kids could see and understand how these canal locks had once worked.

One thing that struck us was how narrow the locks were, but of course, if horses were towing the river cargo (or is that just legend?) the canal wouldn’t have been wide.

Here you can see the elevation of the lower two locks.

This is the indentation of the former canal, above the three locks. In most places, the canal has been filled in, but this depression remains.

This seemingly small find was a highlight of our day–partly because it was unexpected–we hadn’t known a thing about it until we got to the museum in Newark–and partly because it’s one of those actual pieces of history that hasn’t been commercialized. It’s just there, for people to find and try to imagine what life was like in those times. And it’s good for the kids to see things like this, and explain to them how people and goods were moved before the days of Interstate Highways and airplanes.

I’ve already written about the National Road, and you’ll be hearing more about our interest in historic travel routes in future posts.

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