Our Story

By connecting the Ohio frontier with New York and New Orleans, the Ohio & Erie Canal helped people and products flow across America, fueling westward expansion, a national market economy and regional industrial might.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Ohio was isolated from the mainstream of economic vitality. Our state was rich in natural resources, but inaccessible to the established eastern markets. While Ohio had valuable river-based transportation potential, that potential was not fully realized.

Built in the 1820s and 1830s, the Ohio & Erie Canal was carved from the wilderness to provide an invaluable link in the nation’s water-based transportation system. Extending from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, the Ohio & Erie Canal completed a water route between the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico.

The canal helped advance westward expansion and nurture Ohio’s economy, transforming a frontier into a booming and populous state. The canal defined the settlement of numerous towns, villages and cities along its course. It attracted businesses to its flanks and provided a viable transportation route for emerging industries. Today, communities from Cleveland to Dover and New Philadelphia celebrate the contributions of the canal.

The canal was not just important to the region and state. It also played an important role in the country's economy at a time when the United States was establishing itself as a new nation. The canal allowed Ohio to produce for the nation. Raw materials and products from Ohio could be shipped to the East Coast and supply its growing cities and industries. The United States could rely on its own resources, rather turning to colonial trade routes with Europe.

Today, the Ohio & Erie Canalway is a National Heritage Area: a place to experience trails, trains and scenic byways, canal towns and ethnic neighborhoods, working rivers and great lakes, industrial landscapes and green spaces.

The Canalway it is one of just 37 National Heritage Areas designated by Congress to preserve and share important aspects of America’s heritage. It is not a traditional park where land is owned by one organization. Instead, it is a lived-in region where the natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a nationally significant landscape. Communities and organizations work together to advance the Canalway idea.

The Ohio & Erie Canalway celebrates the significance of the Ohio & Erie Canal and its legacy to the region and nation. It offers people opportunities to discover the canal and a myriad of interconnected places and stories. The Canalway is not just about the past. It is about the present sense of place of our communities. It is also a source of inspiration and economic development for envisioning our future.