Canal Sites to Visit and Enjoy

Today some areas of the canal system throughout Ohio are accessible and preserved to be enjoyed by the public. Here are some of them.
If you know of more please e-mail me at so that I can add them to the list.

Ohio & Erie Canal Sites
Miami & Erie Canal Sites
Branch Canal Sites

Ohio & Erie Canal Sites

The Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor. A project under development incorporating areas along the length of the canal from Lake Erie to Zoar (so far!). For more information about the organization visit their homepage. This page includes some wonderful images of canal life and some canal video and sounds. An all around excellent site.
Cleveland. A long water filled section of the canal runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreational Area. A Towpath trail runs from Rockside Road to Bath Road. This path is used for hiking and biking. There are also locks, aqueducts, a mill and a visitors center.
Peninsula. Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park is home to Lock 28, Deep Lock, which has the highest lift of all the locks between Cleveland and Akron (42 locks). Stone for the lock and grindstones were quarried from the adjacent area.
Akron. Cascade Locks Park is in downtown Akron. There are 8 miles of water filled canal running from Market Street to the Portage Lakes (early canal reservoirs) and Barberton. Lock 2 Park at Buchtel Ave.
Canal Fulton. In Canal Fulton you can ride on a mule-drawn canal boat which carries passengers from State Route 93 to lock 4 and back (May-Oct). There is a public park, canal museum and a restored canal dry dock.
Bolivar. A three mile hiking trail runs along the towpath from Fort Laurens toZoar Village. there are four canal locks along the way.
Coshocton. Here you can find Roscoe Village a restored canal town. It is open year round with museums, restaurants, shops and canal exhibits. A walk along the towpath of the Walhonding Aqueduct lead from Roscoe to Lake Park. The lake here was a former canal basin. A horse-drawn canal boat replica operates May to Oct. To the North West of Roscoe you can see Triple Lock.
Newark. In Black Hand Gorge State Park 10 miles east of Toboso you can find a guard lock, slack-water dam, a cliff face towpath and an interurban tunnel. There are hiking and biking trails. the area is marked by monuments that commemorate the site of the groundbreaking on July 4, 1825.
Hebron. Originally a canal reservoir Buckeye Lake is now a recreation area. Stretches of water filled canal run North and West. Deep Cut, excavated for the summit of the canal is visible along State Route 204 along deep Cut Road in Millersport.
Lockville. In Lockville Park you can find stone masonry locks, 11, 12, 13 and a relocated covered bridge.
Groveport. Lock 22 and some remaining canal bed can be found in Blacklick Park.
Lockbourne. Several locks can be found in the area of Lockbourne. Locks 26 & 27 along Canal Rd. East of the Village. Lock 29 along Canal Street West of the railroad. Lock 30 in the village park and a guard lock and lift lock along Rowe Rd. at Walnut Creek.
Circleville. You can find some remaining stone abutments of the Scioto River aqueduct, a 3 mile stretch of water filled canal.
Chillicothe. Water Street here is the former canal bed and there are restored canal era storefronts between Walnut and Mulberry Streets with a canal warehouse at the corner of Mulberry and Main Streets. Canal locks are visible along Three Locks Rd.
Waverly. There are remnants of Lock 44 along State Route 23.
Portsmouth. In Riverside Park you can see the Outlet Lock that lowered the canal boats to the level of the Ohio River.

Miami & Erie Canal Sites

Maumee. Three of the original six locks can be seen in Side Cut Metropark. these lowered the canal boats into the Maumee River.
Toledo. You can hike along an eight mile trail through Farnsworth, Bend View and Providence City Parks. This runs along the towpath to Providence Dam. A working mill, Ludwig Mill, is a working water powered mill that operates on Sundays (May to Oct). Lock 9 is adjacent to the mill.
Grand Rapids. Mary Jane Thurston State Park encompasses the Grand Rapids Dam and the guard lock to Gilead side-cut. The dam created a slackwater pool for the canal boats. There is hiking in the area.
Independence. There is a well preserved canal lock in Independence Dam State Park.
Delphos. Here you can pick-up the Miami & Erie Trail, a 40 mile stretch of towpath running South to Lake Loramie State Park. You can view many lock sites, canal towns, a Deep Cut and Forty Acre Pond along the hiking trail.
Spencerville. Here you can find A National Historic Landmark, Deep Cut, a 6,600 foot long excavation to carry the canal through the glacial deposits.
St. Marys. There is a four mile trail along water filled canal from Geiger Park to Forty Acre Pond, a wide water of the canal.
Celina. Grand Lake St. Marys was originally constructed as a canal reservoir.
New Bremen. Lock 1 can be seen in the center of town. It was the North end of the Loramie Summit,a 23 mile stretch at the canal's highest elevation and free of locks.
Fort Loramie. Lake Loramie in the State Park was originally a canal reservoir.
Lakeview. Indian Lake, formerly Lewistown Reservoir, although away from the main canal route provided water for the Sidney Feeder.
Port Jefferson. Canal Feeder Reservoir, at the head of the Sydney Feeder.
Lockington. Lockington Locks State Memorial. he there was a flight of five locks dropping the canal 67 feet in only a half mile from Loramie Summit to the Loramie Creek and then to the Miami River.
Piqua. Piqua Historical Area has a stretch of restored canal on which a mule-pulled canal boat operates taking passengers (May-Oct).
Tipp City. Tipp City. (Tippecanoe).There is a grist mill and Lock 15, a stone masonry lock.
Dayton. In Carillon Park there is an area of reconstructed lock and exhibits of early transportation.
Middletown. Canal museum is located in a replica of a lock-tenders house. In Excello Park there is a historical marker commemorating the first lock finished on the canal. It was later rebuilt of concrete.
Hamilton. The Miami & Erie/ Rentschler Forest Preserve has hiking trails along the towpath.
Cincinnati. Bicentennial Park is the site of a flight of locks that dropped the canal to the Ohio River. here you can see a representation of a canal lock and a profile of the Miami & Erie canal.

Branch Canals

I know little about some of the branch canal sites other than on the Sandy & Beaver Canal. Please e-mail me if you can help me develop this part of my page.

Sandy & Beaver Canal

East Liverpool. Beaver Creek State Park has several canal sites and pioneer buildings including a restored lock & Gastons Mill, a working mill, in the main park and "Gretchen's Lock" and Hambletons Mill in the Sprucevale area of the park. Several trails take you through canal quarries, locks and canal bed.
Lisbon. Guilford Lake State Park, named for Gill the Canal Engineer is a reservoir built in 1929 from the site of the West Fork Reservoir, a canal reservoir.
Elkton. Along Middle Beaver Road a small road leads to Lusks Lock. In the small village of Elkton you can still see some original buildings and visit "Lock 24" a restaurant in the vacinity of the canal with an old covered bridge.