Skip to main content

Erie Canal: Palmyra-Macedon Aqueduct Park

Image
By

The Palmyra-Macedon Aqueduct Park, or the Pal-Mac Aqueduct Park for short, is a county park just west of historic Palmyra, New York that features remnants from the days of yore of the heyday of the Erie Canal. The main features of the park is a spillway that is still used to moderate the nearby successor to the Erie Canal, that being the Barge Canal, as well as the Mud Creek Aqueduct and the historic Aldrich Change Bridge. The Erie Canalway Trail runs through the park, and along with the historical and recreational opportunities afforded within the boundaries of the park, there is a pavilion on site for people to have picnics.

The historic Aldrich Change Bridge (officially, the Aldrich Towing Path Change Bridge) is the oldest iron bridge in New York State and one of only two bridges known to survive from the first enlargement of the Erie Canal. The bridge was first constructed in 1858. This Whipple designed bridge was built in the Waterford, New York iron works of George W. Eddy and erected by John Hutchinson of Troy, New York. The bridge allowed the towpath to switch from one side of the canal to the other. West of this bridge, the towpath was on the south side of the canal, and east of the bridge, on the north side. Originally on the south side of the canal, when the Erie Canal was enlarged, there was no room between the enlarged canal and adjacent buildings in Palmyra, so the towpath was switched to the north side through the village. The bridge was moved to Aqueduct Park in 2003.

The Mud Creek Aqueduct is also located in the park and is adjacent to existing Erie Canal Lock 29. The remains of the aqueduct include the towpath bridge on the south side of the canal, which is now a part of the Erie Canalway Trail, and the stone supports for a former wooden canal prism, which held the water on the north side of the canal. The aqueduct is 94 feet long, and uses three spans to cross the creek, officially called Ganargua Creek.

Lock house for the current Erie Canal, in which you may be able to make out some fencing in the distance.

Garangua Creek.


Sources and Links:
Wayne County - Palmyra Aqueduct Park
NYFalls - Palmyra-Macedon Aqueduct Park
The Erie Canal - Aldrich Change Bridge
The Erie Canal - Macedon and Palmyra
Cycle the Erie Canal - Lockport to Lyons

How to Get There:




Update Log:
March 23, 2018: Originally published article to Unlocking New York.
August 20, 2021: Transferred article from Unlocking New York to Gribblenation.
Labels:
Location: 555 W Main St, Palmyra, NY 14522, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US Route 101 in Benbow, Garberville and Redway

By
The communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway can all be found along US Route 101 within southern Humboldt County.  The former surface alignment of US Route 101 in Garberville and Redway once crossed the Garberville Bluffs along what is now Redwood Drive via a corridor constructed as part of the Redwood Highway during the 1910s.  US Route 101 through Benbow, Garberville and Redway was modernized by 1935.  US Route 101 would eventually be upgraded to freeway standards in Benbow, Garberville and Redway by extension of the Redwood Freeway during 1966-68.  As the cover photo the original grade of US Route 101 and the Redwood Highway can be seen at the Garberville Bluffs during 1934.  US Route 101 can be seen in the communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Humboldt County .   The history of US Route 101 in Benbow, Garberville and Redway Benbow, Garberville and Redway lie on the banks of the South Fork Eel River of southern Humboldt County.  D
Post a Comment
Read more

Highways in and around Old Sacramento; US 40, US 99W, CA 16, CA 24, CA 70, CA 99, CA 275, and more

By
This past weekend I was visiting the City of Sacramento for a wedding.  That being the case I decided to head out on a morning run through Old Sacramento, Jibboom Street Bridge, I Street Bridge, Tower Bridge, and path of US Route 40/US Route 99W towards the California State Capitol.  My goal was to retrace the paths of the various highways that once traversed the Old Sacramento area. 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 The old highway alignments of Sacramento The City of Sacramento lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and American River in Sacramento Valley.  Sacramento Valley was discovered by Spanish Explorer Gabriel Moraga in 1808.  Moraga referred to the fertile Sacramento Valley akin to a "Blessed Sacrament."  By 1839 John Sutter Sr. settled in Mexican held
Post a Comment
Read more

Old Stage Road in Tulare County and Kern County

By
Old Stage Road is an approximately 30-mile rural highway comprised of Tulare County Mountain Road 1, Kern County Mountain Road 447 and Tulare County Mountain Road 109.  Old Stage originates at Jack Ranch Road near Posey and ends at the outskirts of Porterville at Deer Creek.  Old Stage Road notably is comprised of two 19th Century stage routes.  From White Mountain Road northwest to Fountain Springs, Old Stage Road overlays Thomas Baker's 1860s era stage road to Linn Valley (now Glennville) and the Kern River Gold Rush Claims.  From Fountain Springs to Deer Creek, Old Stage Road is comprised of the 1853 Stockton-Los Angeles Road. Featured as the blog cover is the northward descent on Old Stage Road along Arrastre Creek to the town site of White River.  What became White River was settled along a spur of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road as "Dog Town" when gold was discovered nearby.  By 1856 the community had been renamed Tailholt.  A stage road from Tailholt to Linn Valley w
Post a Comment
Read more