Weekend Geekery (Canal Museum)

A few weeks ago, I saw a highway "points of interest" sign for the Middlesex Canal Museum. Wha? Okay... sounds just like the type of infrastructure dorkery that I'm into.

So this weekend I indulged my geekery by travelling up (by Commuter Rail) to North Billerica to see the place. The museum is in a great old brick mill building, just five minutes from the train station; it's a little one-room deal run by retired volunteers.


As for the historical canal itself--it ran from Lowell (with connections up to Concord, NH) down to Boston harbor, and was put in service 1803; some pics in the Wikipedia article.


Finally, in the 1820's, came the Golden Age of the canal, when lumber, foodstuffs, and granite came to Boston from as far as Concord, NH, in return for manufactured goods. This same period saw the development of the first industrial city in Massachusetts--the textile center of Lowell, whose development was made possible by the canal.

However, it was only in operation for 50 years--by 1853, it stopped running: it was driven out of business by the railroad (which ran parallel to the canal, and was even built with construction materials carried on it). Capitalism at work--trains were much faster, and could run year round.

A working model of canal locks:


There are still echoes of the two hundred year old structure in bits and pieces all along its route, but it is returning to nature and eroding away in other spots. These remanants ranged from the sublime (a boulder on the banks of the canal with lines cut into its face, from the tow ropes repeatedly rubbing across it) to the utterly mundane ("This slightly raised dirt pile next to the parking lot? That used to be part of the canal.")

Another bit of trivia is that many of the lessons learned digging this canal were then used in the construction of the Erie Canal across New York--which made New York City into such a thriving trade port, and thus into the city that it is today.

Speaking of dorkery, I saw a brochure for cruises on the Erie canal. Sounds like my kind of vacation. Man... it's sad, but I really should be a 60-year old retiree, shouldn't I?