LAST STOP ON ERIE CANAL

Camillus is a town outside of Syracuse. It was here that we visited my last stop on the Erie Canal and took a more relaxed tour where the scenes were of walkers, joggers, and bike riders. We saw the aqueduct system and much greenery. Due to the sun it was sometimes hard to tell where the top of the water started and the reflection began. Rather than a houseboat we were on a pontoon, which I was also able to easily pilot.

We first visited the Sims' Museum, a replica of the Sims canal store that housed anything the canal fleet needed in the way of medicines, cooking tools, food & water, kerosene & coal, apparel, animal feed & equipment, and hardware. There was one of those great murals located on the second floor.

WAYNE COUNTY - PALMYRA

Palmyra has been coined "Queen of Canal Towns", although I'm not sure as to why. We didn't get to tour much of the town as time was spent at William Phelps General Store, a 19th century original general store with original items and home.

Located at 132 Market Street, it was constructed in 1826. William Phelps renovated the store by 1875. It was then turned over to his son Julius who closed the store in 1940. Upstairs I found the post-Civil War furnishings.

Sibyl Phelps lived there with no electricity or plumbing. Yes, there is an outhouse. Sibyl died in 1976. Seeing the items on the shelves could certainly bring nostalgia to those over the age of 70.

The store is just a block away from the Erie Canal.

CONTINUING ON TO GENEVA AND NEWARK

We continue on to Geneva, in Ontario County making our way to Geneva Lakefront Park on Seneca Lake where the Lois McClure is docked for tours. The 1862 replica 88-foot canal schooner is making its way to various ports culminating in Rochester for the World Canals Conference on September 17, 2010. The Lois McClure, hailing from Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain, is a replica of a type of boat once common throughout the region. Hopping aboard the ship allowed us to travel back to the 1800s when wooden boats lined the docks.

I'm told that during their heyday, canal schooners were homeported on Lake Champlain but regularly plied the canals, rivers and lakes between New York City, Quebec City and Montreal. Launched in 2004, the Lois McClure serves as a regional ambassador promoting the shared heritage of Quebecois, Vermonters and New Yorkers.

Newark, located in Wayne County, was our next destination. It was there that we met John Zornow an Historian. He first took us to the Arcadia Historic Museum. The front room had a collection of dinnerware which people purchased party style like Tupperware. The other rooms were devoted to the canal and its history.

It was down to the canal area to check out some of the remains of the original canal in Port Gibson as well as one of the locks to view a boat utilizing it.

Murals are the rage in the canal towns. John runs the Newark Chamber of Commerce Information Center located at the Spencer Knight Canal Port. It's a fabulous spot to relax from one of two chair swings and view both the docking boats and murals.

There is no fee to dock and facilities include water and electric as well as a the use of a restroom and shower.

Esther, Eunice and I had the pleasure of meeting Mayor Peter Blandino.

Dinner was at the Corner Restaurant at 101 W. Union Street. Picture having Chicken Francaise where the pieces of chicken are battered and fried and sitting in a sauce of lemon, white wine and butter. Now, instead of using chicken, the dish called for artichoke hearts.