Tugboat pushing barge up the canal

Barge

Entrance to canal from Rochester

Thursday July 26 2024  Erie Canal Rochester NY 

We left Lockport and drove an hour to a park in Rochester, parked the car and rode West to Hulburton, a 42 mile round trip.  We were immediately impressed with the difference in canal use here.  There were boats at backyard docks, kayakers and pleasure boaters in addition to small ferry barges transporting bikers and walkers.  There were many more fishermen as well.  Still not sure what they're fishing for, I'll ask someone today.  

We thought the best parts of this section were the towns.  We had lunch in at the Custom House in Brockport which was right on the canal.  It was so windy that we had to eat inside😥.  We met some other bikers at lunch who were from Gaithersburg, MD near Hancock. We had a fun chat with them about the Hancock trail and  Bubba Lou's, a crazy lunch spot  on the trail.  Finally we had maybe the best ice cream cone I have ever enjoyed in Spencerport just off the trail.  

We were curious about two things: first how was the canal filled back in 1824?  and why do half of the town names end in "port"?  The canal was filled mainly with water from the Mohawk River and then added to with water from countless streams and other smaller rivers.  I would have enjoyed seeing that.

Dennis suggested that the towns with "port" in their names grew up after the canal was established and the other towns like Medina were there first.  Maybe some like Lockport changed its name.  They were all ports of some kind.  

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