Skip to main content

Erie Canal: Montezuma Heritage Park and Richmond Viaduct

Image
By

 Even though the Erie Canal has been modernized and has followed some slightly different alignments over the past 200 years, there are many old remnants, locks and aqueducts of the Erie Canal that are yours to discover and explore across the Empire State. The canals in New York State are definitely an important part of this state's rich history, so it's nice that vestiges of the Erie Canal can still be seen. Some of the old remnants are sitting quietly in the wild or alongside roads while others are preserved as part of various parks and historical sites. There's even a rest area on the New York Thruway in Port Byron that doubles as the Port Byron Old Erie Canal Heritage Park. Not far from Port Byron, in Montezuma, is another one of these relics from a bygone era of the Erie Canal. This area is preserved for public use as the Montezuma Heritage Park.


There is quite a bit of history to explore at the Montezuma Heritage Park. The park has some walking trails, including one that follows the old towpath of the enlarged Erie Canal, as well as a trail that goes to the ruins of the old Montezuma Fibre Mill, which attempted to make paper out of cattails. This area of Montezuma around the Montezuma Heritage Park is a bit swampy, so you can see why the mill tried to take advantage of these resources.

If you follow the Byron Lapp Memorial Trail that follows the old towpath of the canal, you will reach the remnants of the 840 foot long Seneca River Aqueduct, also known as the Richmond Aqueduct, as it was designed and built under the careful direction of Van Richmond, who was an engineer and surveyor. The aqueduct was constructed starting in 1849 and was opened for use in 1857. Today, a portion of the old aqueduct is still in existence, because when the modern day successor to the Erie Canal was constructed in 1917 along the Seneca River, part of the aqueduct was removed so boats could freely move up and down the Seneca River with the remains of the aqueduct jutting out into the Seneca River. During my visit to the park, I just walked down to the aqueduct and back, as a few of the trails were quite muddy and a bit flooded from the early spring snow melt.

Historical sign noting the Richmond Aqueduct.
Old infrastructure at the trailhead.

Walking down the old towpath.




Photos from the Seneca River Aqueduct, or Richmond Aqueduct.






Sources and Links:
Montezuma Historical Society - Visit the Park
TourCayuga.com - Montezuma Heritage Park
The Erie Canal - The Seneca River Aqueduct
The Travels of Tug 44 - Old Richmond Aqueduct 
New York History Blog - Montezuma Heritage Park: Interpreting Four Canals
New York History Blog - The Cat Tail Company: Montezuma Fibre
Town of Montezuma, NY -  Parks & Recreation

How to Get There:




Update Log:
January 14, 2018 - Originally published article to Unlocking New York.
August 19, 2021 - Transferred article from Unlocking New York to Gribblenation.
Labels:
Location: Montezuma Heritage Park, 8098 High St, Montezuma, NY 13117, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

West Canyon Road (Snow Canyon State Park)

By
West Canyon Road is an approximately four-mile dirt service road located in Snow Canyon State Park.  West Canyon Road follows Snow Canyon from the Whiptail Trail to the northern State Park boundary and intersects numerous trailheads.   West Canyon Road was the original main road through Snow Canyon after it was designated as a Utah State Park in 1957 and opened to the public in 1962. Part 1; the history of West Canyon Road Snow Canyon is located in the Red Mountains north of the city of Ivins in Washington County, Utah.  Snow Canyon is one of many sandstone canyons located in the Red Mountains.  Part of the extinct Santa Clara Volcano punctured the Red Mountains via lava tubes. From approximately the year 200 to 1,250 the area around Snow Canyon was inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans.  Mormon pioneers established Santa Clara south of Snow Canyon in 1854.  Local legend has it that the settlers discovered Snow Canyon in the 1850s while searching for m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian Gulch Extension and the Indian Gulch ghost town site

By
Indian Gulch Extension is an approximately 6-mile-long rural highway corridor in the Sierra Nevada foothills of western Mariposa County.  Indian Gulch Extension begins at Indian Gulch Road near the namesake ghost town of Indian Gulch.  From the ghost town site Indian Gulch Extension extends southwesterly to the Merced County line where it becomes Waltz Road.   The former Gold Rush era community of Indian Gulch which was settled near Santa Cruz Mountain in 1849 and had standing structures until the early 1970s.  What is now Indian Gulch Extension was approved for construction by the Mariposa County Commissioners in 1862.  The purpose of the corridor was to provide Indian Gulch with a direct connection westward with the greater Stockton-Los Angeles Road.  The Stockton-Los Angeles Road would go onto define much of the Mariposa County and Merced County line.  Part 1; the history of Indian Gulch and Indian Gulch Extension Indian Gulch Road is named aft...
Post a Comment
Read more

The reemergence of US Route 99 at the Ventura Freeway/Golden State Freeway interchange

By
During April 2023 a portion of the sign gantry on the eastbound Ventura Freeway (California State Route 134) approaching the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) fell.  The fallen portion of the sign gantry revealed a once covered US Route 99 shield.  The uncovered US Route 99 sign (blog cover courtesy Ian Ligget) is a 1956-63 era freeway specification US Route shield.  This blog will explore in brief how the Golden State Freeway was developed as US Route 99 and US Route 6 before becoming solely Interstate 5.   This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page.  For more information pertaining to the other various segments of US Route 99 and it's three-digit child routes check out the link the below. Gribblenation US Route 99 Page Part 1; visiting the US Route 99 shield at the Ventura Freeway/Golden State Freeway Interchange As noted in the introduction the US Route 99 shield can be seen on the eastbound Ventura Freeway (California Sta...
Post a Comment
Read more