Syracuse Day Off - Oh, Canada! - CycleBlaze

Syracuse Day Off - Oh, Canada! - CycleBlaze

From Oh, Canada!

By Tom Flournoy

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August 4, 2018

Syracuse Day Off

Our first rest day after six days of biking . . . time to wander the city and visit the Erie Canal Museum!

Clinton Square, surrounded by handsome buildings from the mid- to late 1800s, most of them banks. The Erie Canal passed through the middle of this plaza and fountain and between the buildings in the distance.

A memorial to the Underground Railroad and those who helped escaping slaves reach freedom.

Syracuse's monument to the Civil War dead.

The Erie Canal Museum, seen from the downstream side. The canal would have been to the right, and the lock gates you see in front of the building would be for the weigh lock.

The same but from the upstream side of the canal.

The same view with a canal boat approaching to be weighed.

And the view from across the street, which would have been the actual canal in the day!

The museum has a huge collection of historical photographs. This one suggests the lift bridges did not lower for every car.

And another that suggests the lift spans were mostly in the lifted position.

I liked this one because it shows two cars casually parked on the far side of the canal.

And another with the lift span raised, even with no canal traffic visible,

Of course, in winter, with the canal closed, the spans would not lift, as there was no canal traffic.

The Weighlock Building in its heyday.

I was a little taken aback. The plaque reads, "From this balcony in May 1851 Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, delivered the Syracuse Speech" (also known as the Seventh of March speech). Honestly, that's the only balcony on this face of the building.

Columbus Circle (and Columbus) and the Onondaga Supreme and County Courts House. I've never known a county to have a Supreme Court!

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