Canton Public Library’s display case will feature a model of the packet boat the DeWitt Clinton, which traveled on the waters of the Farmington Canal in the early 1800s, carrying canal passengers between New Haven and Northampton, Massachusetts. The model is part of the gallery exhibit “The Farmington Canal in the Farmington Valley.” The De Witt Clinton is on loan from the New Haven Museum and Historical Society.
Library hours are Monday-Thursday 10:00-8:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00-5:00, and Sunday 1:00-4:00. For information: (860) 693-5800.
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Today, canal travel conjures images of floating through exotic landscapes, far from the demands of office and commerce. Two hundred years ago in the Farmington Valley, however, canal travel meant speedier travel than could be had by stagecoach along rutted and often muddy roads. Canal barges were also a spur to commerce and manufacturing.
For the months of March and April, Canton Public Library’s Gallery will feature an exhibit titled “The Farmington Canal in the Farmington Valley.” The exhibit recreates, with maps, photographs, and paintings, the remarkable feat of engineering and hard work that brought canal travel to the towns of Farmington, Avon, Simsbury, and Granby in the early 1800s. And although the Farmington Canal did not pass through Canton, the town nevertheless took advantage of its proximity to the “port of Avon.”
The Farmington Canal, which in fact ran from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts, was in use for only twenty years and was superseded by the railroad. During its heyday, however, it fostered commerce, manufacturing, and travel. With packet boats transporting passengers and barges transporting freight, the Canal wound through the Farmington Valley landscape and brought the wider world a bit closer.
Included in the exhibit are copies of the original engineering drawings for the entire Connecticut portion of the Canal. The exhibit also features aerial maps showing the route of the Canal through the four towns. Photographs and paintings capture life on the Canal and the structures built—bridges, culverts, aqueducts, and towpaths—to accommodate a canal passing over rivers and through the landscape.
Although the railroad and the automobile wiped out much of the Canal, a few vestiges remain. And the rails-to-trails network in the Farmington Valley, which incorporates some of the Canal’s route, takes bikers, joggers, and skaters through the same landscape once enjoyed by canal-goers on Sunday outings.
The exhibit is made possible in part through the generosity of long-time canal enthusiast Arthur W. Sweeton, III, whose interest in railroads and canals has served as inspiration for the show. The exhibit has benefited greatly from the expertise and collection of Dr. Carl Walter, who has spent nearly two decades accumulating anything and everything about The Farmington Canal.
Dr. Walter, along with his colleague Ruth Hummel, will be giving a talk on “The Farmington Canal in the Farmington Valley” at 2:00 PM on Sunday, March 8, followed by an opening reception for the exhibit. Dr. Walter will then be available at the library for questions and conversation on three more days during March: Monday, March 9 from 10:00 AM-12:00 NOON; Tuesday, March 17 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM; and Wednesday, March 25 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
The exhibit will run from Monday, March 2 through Thursday, April 30. Canton Public Library is at 40 Dyer Avenue in Canton. Library hours are Monday-Thursday 10:00-8:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00-5:00, and, through the month of March, Sunday 1:00-4:00. For information: (860) 693-5800 or www.cantonpubliclibrary.org
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