Sidetrip to Seneca Falls

Friday, August 29th did NOT feel like August. It was 66 degrees, cloudy and breezy when we left Baldwinsville, NY.

We went through what is called the Ditch Cut and crossed over Cross Lake, which is about 2 miles long. We’re still on the Seneca River portion of the Canal. We passed through part of the Montezuma National Refuge and saw Great Blue Herons (pictured), egrets, osprey and bald eagles.

This farm had some beautiful horses out in the pasture.


Here are some of the remains of the Montezuma Aqueduct, originally 900 feet long, near Richmond. This is where the Canal of 1862 crossed the Seneca River.



We took the turnoff south on the Cayuga/Seneca Canal to Seneca Falls. This canal is actually two short canals joining the Erie Canal with Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. We’d heard a lot about the Finger Lakes Region, wine country in New York, and wanted to visit it. We went through C/S (Cayuga/Seneca) Locks 1, 2 and 3, all raising us, before Seneca Falls. This is the free dock in Seneca Falls.

Seneca Falls is the site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention and has museums and historical sites to honor that. It is also the likely inspiration for the fictional town of Bedford Falls in Frank Capra’s classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Remember Zuzu? This café is named after George Bailey’s youngest daughter in the movie. Seneca County alone has 28 wineries; there are over 70 in the entire Finger Lakes Region. We got our tickets for the wine tour at the visitors’ center. For $10/person the mini-bus takes you to 6 local wineries. You get on and off as you like; the wineries charge a nominal fee for you to sample a selection of wines.

The Finger Lakes area has a more temperate climate than the rest of central New York and is ideal for growing grapes. Temperatures rarely go below freezing so the lakes don't freeze over in winter. Here’s a view of Cayuga Lake from one of the wineries. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular.


The pictures below were taken at the Thirsty Owl Winery where we had lunch overlooking the lake in their outdoor bistro shaded by a grape arbor. I didn’t want to leave!

Several of the vineyards are now growing a white hybrid grape being developed by Cornell University named Cayuga. The white wines, especially Rieslings, seemed to be the specialties. We ended up with 10 bottles of wine and one jar of peach butter from four of the wineries. We didn’t have to lug it around; the bus driver kept it for us. Here’s Paul at the last winery on the tour with some of our treasures.

The legend is the Great Spirit created the Finger Lakes by dragging his hand across the land. Somewhat more romantic than saying they were created by glaciers. They do rather look like fingers if you use your imagination. The two largest lakes are extremely deep in places. The gold line at the top of the chart is the Canal route.

We left the next day and headed back through the three C/S Locks – locking down this time. I took my turn fending off the bow. It makes Capt. Paul nervous if the mast comes too close to the lock wall!

We went through 5 more locks after that for a total of EIGHT. Two of them were more exciting than we’d like. The tip of the boat hook I use is mostly worn away from the rough lock walls. If you push off the top of the wall where it’s painted, it slips and the first mate is left hanging on the life lines (a rather scary moment!) At the last lock of the day, I was in the process of taking a picture and tripped over the wooden mast supports and fell backwards. The deck is a real obstacle course right now with the mast down. No real harm done except for a scraped and bruised shin but that was enough fun for the day. All the locks have an info sign. This is the one from the infamous Lock 28-B.

We went under the lowest bridge on the Canal this aft. It’s an old R.R. bridge and has a clearance of 15 ½ ft. We are now 11 ft. at the highest point so no problem.

We spent the night at Newark, NY, another free dock. This one with a free washer and dryer – what a bonus! There were about 7 boats there at one point but none were left when we departed in the morning. There were historical murals painted along the bridge walls – new this year.

Retired local gents man the visitors’ center and give you the restroom key and any information you need about the town – really a nice service. And that’s the end of this side trip.