Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will be hosting Tim Roth of the Canal Society of New Jersey as he takes a look at one of that state’s great canals, the Morris Canal. The program will start at 6:30pm on Thursday, June 10th. This is part of an ongoing series of “virtual” programs being offered by Schoharie Crossing via the free conferencing platform Webex.
In 1824 the Morris Canal & Banking Company was chartered to build a canal that would carry coal to developing markets along the eastern seaboard. The canal would pass through the heart of New Jersey’s iron district and provide the long-needed transportation system that would create new commercial activity. The completed canal extended 102 miles and opened for business in 1831. By the early 1900s, the canal became obsolete. However, it took until 1924 to adopt a plan to close and dismantle the canal. The ownership of the canal’s vast water resources, including Lake Hopatcong, Lake Musconetcong, and Greenwood Lake, passed to the state of New Jersey. Today, the Morris Canal Greenway, a partnership between local communities and the Canal Society of New Jersey, seeks to preserve the surviving historic remains of the canal, interpret canal sites, and offer recreational opportunities to the public.
This program is offered for FREE and is open to the public. No registration is required; the Webex link goes live at 6:20pm and can be found on the Schoharie Crossing Facebook or NYS Parks website.
Schoharie Crossing is also offering free online lunch time programs during the next several months covering a range of interesting history topics.
For information about this program series, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: www.parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter