Hello my friends! I’m heading south this week after catching the first snowfall of the season in Montreal. It was exciting to see the fluffy stuff—especially knowing I won’t see too much of it this year as we kick off our official snowbird season. I’ll have lots of new places to share with you in the coming weeks.

Back in October, we had the chance to see the Buffalo Maritime Center’s replica of the Seneca Chief. It sailed from Buffalo all the way to Manhattan, offering free tours as it made its way across the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River. Seeing it inspired me to explore the actual Erie Canal myself. So we started at Peebles Island, and then I crossed the North Bridge into Waterford, NY, where Lock E-2 is located. There’s so much history here—and so many ways to experience the canal. So let’s explore!

This drivable and walkable bridge crosses the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, connecting Peebles Island State Park with the Village of Waterford. It’s a really pretty walk, and it’s only a short stroll to the Erie Canal’s Lock E-2.

The first bridge at this location was built in the 1830s for the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad. The current North Bridge was rebuilt in 1913 by the American Bridge Company of New York to serve both rail and canal transportation for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. It played a major role in manufacturing and trade throughout the early 1900s until newer, cheaper transportation methods took over.

By the 1980s, the bridge was in rough shape and had to be closed. After long-needed repairs, it reopened in 2003 as a single-lane driving bridge with a wide pedestrian walkway—the version you can cross today.

The Erie Canal was built between 1817 and 1825, connecting Albany to Buffalo. The goal: link the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes and drastically cut the cost of transporting people and goods.

Before the canal, traveling from Albany to Buffalo by stagecoach took two weeks. After? Only five days. Freight costs dropped from about $100 per ton by stagecoach to just $5–$10 per ton by canal boat.

The original canal stretched 363 miles, cutting through swamps, forests, hills, and farmland. Many of the laborers were US-born, but some were newly arrived Irish immigrants. They excavated the canal almost entirely by hand, using horses and oxen to help dig the four-foot-deep, forty-foot-wide channel. It was one of the greatest engineering feats of its time, introducing breakthroughs like hydraulic cement that could harden underwater.

The Erie Canal was so successful that in the early 1900s the state decided to expand it and “canalize” several rivers and lakes the original route had purposely avoided. One of those waterways was the Mohawk River, which they wanted to fully connect with the Hudson.

But there was a big challenge: the Hudson River is at 15.2 feet above sea level, while the Mohawk sits at 184 feet. To overcome this dramatic elevation change, engineers designed a new set of larger locks.

The result was the Waterford Flight—Locks E-2 through E-6—which achieves the greatest elevation gain in the shortest distance of any canal locks in the United States (and possibly the world). These “new” locks are 328 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 12 feet deep—three times deeper than the original Erie Canal.

Construction began in 1905, and the locks opened in 1915. Lock E-2 is now viewed as the official beginning of the Erie Canal.

Visiting Lock E-2 is easy. You can walk over from Peebles Island or park near the visitor center. There’s a short pathway up to the lock and a small park—but be warned: there are no public bathrooms.

I didn’t explore past E-2 on this trip, but you can walk or bike the entire length of the canal if you're feeling ambitious. Neat trip idea? Definitely yes.

My canal curiosity really took off after seeing the Seneca Chief replica. It sailed the length of the Erie Canal and down the Hudson to celebrate the canal’s bicentennial.

One of the coolest things about this boat is how it was made. More than 200 volunteers, including high school students, helped build it—learning traditional boatbuilding skills under the guidance of two professional shipwrights. The woodworking alone is absolutely gorgeous.

Walking through the boat, you start in the crew’s tight quarters in the back, then move into the more luxurious passenger spaces up front. I’m not sure how comfortable it truly was, but hey—still faster than a stagecoach! Along the way, there are small exhibits and volunteers sharing stories about the build process and the maritime center’s impact on the community.

…about hopping in a car or jumping on a plane to get where we’re going. It’s fascinating to imagine how people and cargo traveled two hundred years ago and how transformative the Erie Canal really was. Many of the technological advancements invented for the canal are still in use today.

It makes you wonder what new ways of traveling we’ll see in our lifetime!

‘til next week, happy exploring!
Kathleen

Check out Beehiiv. Click below for free 30-day trial + 20% OFF for 3 months.

To help you plan your trips, we link to stays and tours. Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning that if you book a trip or sign-up through these links, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. (For example, the link above to check out Beehiiv is an affiliate link.)