Erie Canal -- Medina to Brockport

Monday, July 17 -- Medina to Brockport -- 25 miles

We had just a short day traveling on the canal because we spent the morning in Medina doing laundry, shopping, email chores and working on the blog. The public dock didn't have WiFi but a nice little coffee shop in town did, and it served as our office for the morning. We needed to find a place to get the engine its 250-hour service, and after a couple of phone calls John decided on the Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton, which while a bit out of our way (about ten miles past the start of the Oswego Canal) looked to be a very competent boat yard. Once we had the engine service arranged for Friday, that let us plan out our time on the Erie Canal, which made the Captain happy, and the first mate relieved. It was a very productive morning. We bought take-out sandwiches at the coffee shop to eat underway and left the town dock at 12:40.

Immediately east of the town dock we crossed the "only true aqueduct on the canal today", which was pretty cool. 

We also passed a place where a country road runs underneath the canal, which was also cool. These photos show the north and then the south views. The south view also shows the biking/hiking path, which follows right alongside the canal all through its western portion.

The western portion of the canal also includes lift bridges that date back to the canal being rebuilt in the 1910s. There are fifteen of them all told, and the bridge operators each cover a few bridges and drive back and forth between them. They keep track of the boats moving along and we rarely had to wait very long for one. The bridges are all lovingly maintained and the locals often stand around and watch the boats go by. Each bridge also flies the US, NY state, and official barge canal flags. 

We pulled into the town dock at Brockport just after four o'clock. The facilities were very nice and they had good WiFi, so we didn't mind paying the $20 dockage fee. The main street downtown was also very nice and active, with lots of classic late 1800s buildings. 

We had dinner at a nice bar and grill right on the canal, but we sat inside so we could watch TV. Funny how that is a treat when we are boating. Plus we'd been on the canal all day, so we didn't need to sit outside it while eating dinner. 

John did the canal as a kid with his parents sometime in the late 60s but he doesn't remember much of that trip. He did it again in 2010 when he took his Dad's boat from Marblehead, OH to Beverly, MA and remembers that trip as one of his best boat trips ever. His friends Kevin and Scott started with him in Marblehead and rode as far as Brockport, NY and then took a cab to the Rochester airport to fly back to Indianapolis. His son Zach and son-in-law Damon flew into Rochester that evening and arrived at the boat close to midnight. They rode with John on the canal as far as Schenectady, where there was one more crew change. Janet's cousins Larry and Richard flew into Schenectady and rode all the way to Beverly. Zach took the train back to NYC, and Damon stayed aboard for the rest of the trip. John remembers Brockport as a nice town to hang out in while waiting for his second crew to show up. 

Brockport had the distinction of being the western terminus of the Erie Canal from 1823-25. The original plan was to end the canal at Rochester while the big project of building the five stair-step locks at Lockport was undertaken. But the city fathers of Brockport (which at the time consisted of just a few dozen people) petitioned the Canal Commissioners to extend the terminus to Brockport. Three of the five commissioners had property or other commercial interests in the Brockport area and so not surprisingly the petition was granted. This gave Brockport a two-year head-start on growth compared to towns further west on the canal. All this is per the pamphlet that I picked up at the town dock welcome center.