Yes, You Can Drive Underneath The Erie Canal

I find the history of canals interesting, and for those that still exist, it's fun to check them out. The Erie Canal stretches from Buffalo to Albany, New York. A few years ago, my wife and I were looking for a day trip to take and ended up taking a boat tour on the Erie Canal near Utica. It was a fun and educational adventure.

Did you know that there's one area where you can drive underneath the Erie Canal? It's true. the website Only In Your State, you can do just that in Medina, New York. This town is in western New York State about halfway between Rochester and Buffalo. According to the website, the underpass was built in 1823 and is mentioned in Ripley's Believe It or Not.

And since we're on the subject of canals, another canal that the Erie Canal linked to, was the Chenango Canal. It stretched from Utica to Binghamton. The history of the Chenango Canal is quite interesting, and I often wonder what it looked like in person as I look out my office window onto State Street where it used to run. It's hard to believe a canal existed right outside my office window, but it did.

The Chenango Canal website shows a map of the canal flowing through the downtown area of Binghamton in 1855. Downtown certainly looked quite different back then with a canal running through it. You can read more history about the entire Chenango Canal on the Chenango Canal Association and Chenango Canal websites.

via Chenango Canal Association, Chenango Canal, Only In Your State - New York