COLORFUL PAST

Heritage trail celebrates history of Ohio & Erie Canal

Although the Ohio & Erie Canal had a relatively brief heyday in the mid-19th century, the waterway left enduring marks on the landscape with remnants of its hand-dug channel and ruins of its huge stone locks.

The canal also left its mark on the state’s map at towns such as Lockbourne, Canal Winchester and Lockport. This summer and fall, those towns and others will debut a new heritage trail designed to help visitors explore and experience the canal’s colorful history.

The 308-mile Ohio & Erie Canal once linked the Ohio River at Portsmouth with Lake Erie at Cleveland. Along the way, the canal was fed by rivers, and by feeder reservoirs such as Buckeye Lake built specifically for the purpose. Massive hand-operated locks lifted the mule-towed canal boats over changes in elevation.

The canal channel was dug in the 1820s and 1830s by workers, mostly immigrants, paid pennies a day. One of those poor laborers, Abram Garfield, had a son, James, who later became a “hogee,” or mule-driver, on the canal. But James reportedly had an unfortunate habit of slipping down the muddy canal banks and falling into the water. So James gave up the canal game and entered the more lucrative, but perhaps equally muddy, business of politics, and was eventually elected the 20th President of the United States.

Many such stories are told at historic sites along the route of the canal, which was made obsolete by railroads and was abandoned in the early 20th century.

In recent times, communities along the canal, especially in its northern reaches, have established historic attractions in places such as the Ohio & Erie Canal Historic District in Cuyahoga County, Cuyahoga National Park and Roscoe Village in Coshocton.

Now, towns along the central and southern stretch are also finding new ways of embracing the canal’s history.

Parks have been established around or near canal sites in locales such as Groveport, Baltimore, Circleville and West Portsmouth among others.

And two years ago, the Ohio & Erie Canal “Southern Descent” National Register Historic District was established.

This summer marks the dedication of the Southern Descent Heritage Trail, a curated visitors’ trail and guide to history along the old trail route, with 25 separate entries from Buckeye Lake south to the Ohio River.

The tour is featured on the Seeohiofirst.org website maintained by Ohio Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

To celebrate the trail’s debut, several sites along the route will hold special kickoff events to introduce visitors to the trail’s history and amenities.

The events will include food, entertainment, trail walks and stories about the canal and the people who built and used it.

h Groveport’s Heritage Park and Lock 22 will host a celebration from noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 5, 551 Wirt Road (Lock 22 is also accessible from Blacklick Park, 770 Blacklick St.). In addition to the remains of a canal lock, visitors will also see a historic 1815 log cabin, one of the oldest surviving homes in Franklin County.

h The village of Lockville, near Carroll, will host a kickoff from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 11 at 5895 Pickerington Road NW, Carroll, and reprise the event with another from 5 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 9.

Lockville Park contains the remains of three locks as well as the restored Hartman #2 Covered Bridge, built in 1888. Interpretive historian Jack Campbell will share stories and answer questions about the canal and how it shaped the history of Ohio and Fairfield County.

h Lockbourne, once the site of a massive series of eight canal locks, will host its kickoff from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 25 at Locke Meadows Park, 154 Commerce St., where the remains of Lock 30 can still be seen. Several other lock and other canal ruins can also be seen nearby.

h Circleville will host its kickoff from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 2 at Canal Park, 23352 Canal Road, the site of what was once a feeder channel that diverted water from a (now-removed) dam across the Scioto River into the canal. Visitors can also hike along a towpath trail, similar to those once trod by a young and clumsy James Garfield.

To learn about the sites along the Ohio & Erie Canal Southern Descent Heritage Trail, visit Seeohiofirst.org/trails/26.

Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.

Visitors to Lockville Canal Park can also walk across the historic Hartman No. 2 Bridge, built in 1888.

In addition to canal ruins, visitors to Heritage Park in Groveport can see a restored 1815 log cabin.

STEVE STEPHENS PHOTOS/SPECIAL TO COLUMBUS DISPATCH The sun rises over the ruins of a historic lock at Lockville in Fairfield County.

The paths once walked by canal mules and “hoggees“is now overgrown at Bibler Lock near Baltimore.