Erie Canal Part 4

On Tuesday, August 26th we got to experience the first locks on the Canal that lowered us instead of raised us up. Lock 21 and Lock 22 are about 1.5 miles apart and each lowered us 25 feet to reach the level of Oneida Lake. After 20 locks going UP, it felt very odd to start at the top of the lock and end up at the bottom. We reached Sylvan Beach on the eastern end of Oneida Lake at mid-day but decided to stop for the day. The wind was blowing quite hard out of the west and the Lake was kicking up quite a bit.

Sylvan Beach is a summer resort area with a little amusement park and lots of eateries and shops. This area is known as “the playground of Central New York” or was back in the day. We had lunch at Eddie’s (best haddock sandwich ever), a well-known local eatery since 1934. This is the renovated free dock which had electricity and wifi; we’re tickled when we get a reliable internet connection so we spent the afternoon trading off using it and catching up.

This is the cute little 2-car roller coaster at the amusement park. It really made a lot of racket!

There were lots of people walking along the dock and one woman asked Paul, “do all sailboats look like that?” We also got asked if we can sail anywhere along the Canal. Sometimes it’s hard not to laugh! Here’s a sunset at Sylvan Beach, New York.

It was much smoother the next day so we’re glad we waited. Oneida Lake is the largest body of water on the Erie Canal; it’s 20 miles long and fairly shallow. The original Erie Canal passed to the south of the Lake. This is when it was basically a ditch which mules and horses pulled barges through. In 1917 the Canal was enlarged and relocated to accommodate self-propelled boats and now passes through the Lake.

Our destination was Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, a mile or so up the Canal on the western side of Oneida Lake. We fueled up at $4.39/gallon; they’re known to have the lowest fuel prices on the Canal. The dockage was 90 cents/ft. with a Boat U.S. discount so we were pleased with that. Another neat thing was the pots of vegetables on the fuel dock for boaters to harvest. I helped myself to cherry tomatoes, basil and parsley. This was the extent of my gardening for the entire summer so I enjoyed it!

They let us borrow one of their courtesy cars to do laundry and get some groceries. Do you like our new Mercedes?

This had to be one of the more unique marina cars we’ve used. It’s a 1987 Mercedes with 213,000 miles on it. It’s actually pale yellow – the picture doesn’t do it justice!

We also found a boat supply store that had a life vest to fit a 6-lb. dog. Ginger can actually move normally in this vest so we got it and she wears it when we’re in the locks and can't keep an eye on her. She barks if we put her down below where she can't see what's going on.

We left the marina the next day and went through the last lock down  on the Canal. Lock 23 was only a 7 ft. drop. We knew how far we had to go to Buffalo when we saw this sign at Canal Junction. It’s the turnoff for the Oswego Canal which you would take if you were heading to Lake Ontario.


We spent a quiet night just past Lock 24 in Baldwinsville, NY. Actually it was VERY quiet – we were at the free dock right in front of a cemetery. The weather was rainy so we didn’t even walk to check out the town but we didn’t think we missed too much.

I'm slowly getting caught up on writing. We're currently in Medina, NY - just another stop away from the end of the Canal. I'm writing from the Shirt Factory Cafe which was built as a hotel in 1876. In 1919 it became a shirt factory and operated here until 2004. It's the coolest place with antique furniture, original art on the walls, yummy danish and coffee and James Taylor playing. Who could want anything more?