D&H Canal

Photo of D&H Canal by Lynne Funk, 2012.

A dry laid stone embankment along the D + H Canal and towpath, which runs next to Route 209, just south of Ellenville, NY. This is the southern part of the Delaware & Hudson (D & H) Canal.  

Above: a child leads miles on the D&H Canal during the late 1800s. Century House Historical Society, Rosendale, New York.

Above: Towpath for walking along side the boats.

It took three people to drive a canal boat, with one, often a child, leading the mules along the path. Boats lasted for only five years, and it took three for a boat to be paid off.  Families owned some, living in an approximately 12 x 12 foot space.

Coal was transported from PA to New York City and the Hudson River until railroads made the canal network archaic.

For more information, please visit: http://www.canalmuseum.org/