Built in the 1820s and 1830s, the Ohio & Erie Canal was carved from the wilderness to provide an invaluable link — from Lake Erie to the Ohio River — in the nation’s transportation system, completing an inland water route between the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico.
By connecting the Ohio frontier to New York and New Orleans, the Ohio & Erie Canal helped people and products flow across America, fueling westward expansion, a national market economy and burgeoning regional industrial might.
Today, the Ohio & Erie Canalway is a National Heritage Area, designated by Congress, to preserve and celebrate the first 110 miles of this canal that helped Ohio and our country grow.
Our core story is shared through five Interpretive Themes (below) used here and throughout the Canalway to bring our canal-era history and stories to life. Together, they explain the amazing resource you find in our midst today. Enjoy!
If you are interested in more
Canalway stories, click here to read more.
The historic photos in the Did You Know listings on our site are primarily from the Louis Baus Canal Photograph Collection, preserved by The University of Akron Archival Services. The digitization of the collection was sponsored, in part, through a grant from the Ohio & Erie Canalway Association.
Learn more in "About Our Contributors."