Greece Historical Society plans activities to celebrate the Erie Canal Bicentennial

As the Erie Canal celebrates the bicentennial of its completion this year, cities, towns and villages across the 363-mile route are planning activities to recognize this milestone. The Greece Historical Society is joining the celebration this summer with a few activities of its own.

Without a canal port village, many residents and visitors do not realize that the historic waterway flows through the Town of Greece and that the Canal had an important impact on the town. In fact, back in the mid-to-late 1800s, the hamlet of South Greece, often referred to as Henpeck, had a thriving port complete with at least three grocery stores, a post office, schoolhouse, fruit drying house, warehouse, blacksmith shop, homes, doctors’ offices, train depot, flower seed farm, and later even a functioning lock.

To bring attention to the Erie Canal in Greece, the Greece Historical Society’s Erie Canal Bicentennial Committee has created a self-guided “passport” of key locations in town that were associated with the canal, a museum exhibit, and is planning an event right on the Canal in August.

A Heritage Trail Passport: South Greece on the Erie Canal shares a little bit of Greece canal history at 29 stops in South Greece. Complete with photos, maps, and a bibliography, the 24-page booklet has space available to check off each site and note the date seen. (Please note: Most of these sites are private and not open to the public but can be viewed from the road or canal trail.)

You can pick up a Passport at the gift shop in the Greece Museum, 595 Long Pond Road, for no charge (although donations are gratefully accepted) on Sundays from 1:30 to 4 p.m., or at any of the Greece Historical Society’s upcoming Erie Canal 200 events in August and September. Once the passport is completed, return to the Greece Museum to be entered into a drawing for a one-year membership to the Greece Historical Society.

The museum exhibit “Four Miles Along the Towpath: South Greece on the Erie Canal” will open in August and detail the people, places, and businesses associated with the Canal in South Greece. The exhibit can be viewed whenever the museum is open.

To help bring the Passport to life, on Saturday, August 16, the Greece Historical Society will present its main Erie Canal 200 event: “Four Miles Along the Towpath: South Greece on the Erie Canal.” The event will be held at the Towpath Shelter and the Erie Canal Trail at Greece Canal Park, 241 Elmgrove Road, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Participants can walk along the towpath as docents introduce them to the thriving canal port of Henpeck in South Greece. Exhibits and family activities will be located in the Towpath Shelter. The event is free and open to the public.

Earlier that week, on Tuesday, August 12, the Greece Historical Society will partner with the Greece Public Library to bring the Buffalo Maritime Center’s Exhibit and Collections Manager Eddie Knibloe to the library, 2 Vince Tofany Boulevard, to discuss the Center’s community boatbuilding project to recreate the Erie Canal Boat Seneca Chief and the role the original boat played in the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. The talk, “Recreating the Seneca Chief,” will also detail what visitors can expect when the canal boat travels from Buffalo to New York City to commemorate the Erie Canal Bicentennial in September. Registration is required for this event at: https://greecepl.librarycalendar.com/event/greece-historical-society-32958.

Looking to September, the Greece Historical Society’s monthly meeting will feature “From New York to Niagara Falls: Ten Days on the Erie Canal,” on Tuesday, September 9, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Greece Central Transportation and Support Services Facility, 1780 Latta Road. Learn what it was like to travel on a packet boat circa 1840 via a fictional narrative based on eyewitness travel journals from the Erie Canal’s early days. Presented by Maureen Whalen of the Greece Historical Society.

For more information about upcoming Erie Canal 200 events and activities sponsored by the Greece Historical Society, visit greecehistoricalsociety.org or contact 585-225-7221 or greecehistoricalsociety@yahoo.com.
Provided information