Hike #1173; Womelsdorf to Avon

Hike #1173; Womelsdorf to Avon

11/10/18 Womelsdorf to Avon (Lebanon) PA with Doug DeGroff, Peter Fleszar, Daniel Trump, Diane Reider, and Jennifer Tull

This next hike wold be a point to point, the 31st in the 911memorialtrail series, between Lebanon and Womelsdorf.
The route is a little weird compared with what’s on the website now, but it was planned thanks to Robert Thomas, a planner who described to me a route that was better for walking, as everything shown on the official website is pretty much the cycling route.

Seen at the start in the grocery store. I like it.

I was very happy when Mr. Thomas told me that he planned to follow the Union Canal toward Lebanon rather than use the designated road route for pedestrian use. The back roads were very nice, and we hit a lot of great historic spots in this series.

Pete tries his luck

By going this way, we are also opening the doors to figure Union Canal hikes. I’d wanted to do this anyway, so it’s doubly special for me to be able to get this all done. I always put things off until something gives me an extra kick to do it. This is exactly the extra kick I needed for this one, and the day would bring about more of them.
We met in the morning at the Walmart in the east of the town of Lebanon. This was a good jump off point because it was easy to find off of Route 78, and a large lot we wouldn’t have to worry about being in if we finished after dark.

Womelsdorf

After meeting at the Walmart, we shuttled in my van to Womelsdorf. The Union Canal actually passed to the north of the town, but I wanted to actually experience the town, so instead of starting where we left off the last time, we went right into the downtown to get a feel for it.
The town was founded in 1762 by John Womelsdorf and named Middletown for it’s location directly between Lebanon and Reading. It was named for it’s founder fifty years later. It has a lot of very historic architecture.

Stouch Tavern

Of particular interest to me was the Stouch Tavern, built in 1785. Conrad Stouch purchased the land in 1785 from the town’s first innkeeper, Jacob Seltzer. The original inn dates back to about 1830, and it’s possible parts of the building could be original to that.

Womelsdorf

The inn became a very important part of the stage coach line that operated between Harrisburg and Reading. This made it an important point very early on.
The inn was nearly lost to fire in 1973, but fortunately was saved.
The Union Canal was the next major transportation to come to the town, first proposed by William Penn in the late 1600s. Opening a better means of trade between the Susquehanna and Schuykill Rivers remained an important notion over the next century, and George Washington, before and during his presidency, was a strong advocate of this.

View of Blue Mountain from Womelsdorf

Construction began on the Union Canal in 1792 under British canal engineer William Weston. It is said that President George Washington turned the first shovel of earth himself.
By 1793, several miles of canal were dug, and five locks were constructed between Myerstown and Lebanon. President Washington visited and inspected these locks, and deemed them to be of good quality. This may have been about the time that Washington stayed at the Stouch Tavern, in November of that year.

Abandoned parking lot

That section of canal is one of the first built in America. Financial difficulties held back construction, and a large lottery was held to try to get construction done. There were two canal companies undertaking the project: the Schuykill and Susquehanna Navigation Company, and the Delaware and Schuykill Navigation Company. The two were merged to create the Union Canal Company, and following the War of 1812, work continued. There had been an energy crisis, and the answer was the anthracite coal.

An old mill and home on Canal Road

The canal was completed in 1828 under direction of Canvass White, and had 93 locks to overcome the elevation between the two mightly rivers. It followed mostly the Tulpehocken Creek to the east, and the Swatara Creek to the west. Locks were numbered in two directions starting at the peak, where a tunnel was bored through an eighty foot ridge north of Lebanon (it was the second transportation tunnel in America, and remains the oldest transportation tunnel still extant to this day).
The canal leaked rather badly, and a continuous water source was needed to keep it full, and so a feeder canal to Pine Grove served the dual purpose of both feeding water into the canal and transporting coal from the mines and breakers in that area.

Old mill race bridge on Canal Road

The canal was improved upon and widened in the 1840s, but like most canals really only saw success through the years of the Civil War.
In 1862, a major flood came through and devastated the region. I’d read a lot about this one already, as it destroyed the Upper Grand Division of the Lehigh Canal.
The flood destroyed the entire Pine Grove Feeder, which caused major problems for the main canal. By this time, railroads were already coming in, and the completion of the Lebanon Valley Railroad in 1857 took away most of the canal’s revenue.

Former Union Canal route at Lock #24 site

The canal was finally abandoned in 1881, making it one of the most short lived, but interesting canals in our nation’s history.
The Union Canal is particularly amazing, because despite it’s incredible history and ties to the start of our nation, it is nearly forgotten. It would never be more clear a fact than after this hike.
From Womelsdorf where we parked at the Stouch Tavern (I really wanted to eat there, but maybe I’ll have to go back another time), we walked High Street to 3rd Street down out of the main part of town.

Old bridge over the Tulpehocken. Note the old canal lock stones from Lock 24 E to the left.

We crossed over Route 422 down the hill, after taking in a nice view of the Blue Mountain in the distance. The little gaps visible are along the route of the Appalachian Trail, which I’ve walked entirely in Pennsylvania. It made me think of how this is an entirely different kind of hike, but in a lot of ways it was way more rewarding.

Site of Lock #24 E

We stopped in the Boyers Food Market there at the start, and got whatever snacks and such we needed for our trip, and then moved on our way. Pete played with a game and tried to win a stuffed animal at the entrance, but no luck there.
We exited the store and walked along under the awning to stay out of the already heavy wind. The high for the day was in the forties, but it felt so much colder. I wore my cardinal red blazer, which was really not quite warm enough, and no hat, but I’d get by.

Old lock wall stones repurposed as roadway walls at Lock 24E

We soon passed by a Fine Wine and Spirits store, so I went inside to find that they carried the MD 20/20 Orange Jubilee flavor, which I really liked, so I got some (though I didn’t end up drinking any of it this time).
I walked out while everyone was waiting, and then saw Womelsdord Beverage was next door, a beer store. Well, I had to go in there too. They had a great selection of craft beers right in the front. I was amazed at the good stuff they had. They probably had some new stuff I’d want to try.

The former canal route to left

After some consideration, I just decided to go with an old favorite, Weyerbacher’s Finally Legal. I got one bottle, and then chatted with the owner for a bit after he complimented my jacket. He commented that it looked like we were a fun bunch, and I told him some about what we were doing. He gave me a business card, but unfortunately it must have fallen out of my pocket somewhere along the line. Anyway, he invited me back any time I’m in the area, and said he gets all of the good stuff that people are looking for.

View to Lock #24 site and old school house

We walked out of the back of the lot and onto Canal Road and passed a beautiful old mill and old house on the left. Just ahead, the road crossed over an old mill race, which Doug pointed out thinking it was the canal. It really did look like it, and I thought about it at first, but then realized the stone arch crossing over was probably put in place before the canal was abandoned. I checked the maps, and confirmed that the canal was on the opposite side of the Tulpehocken Creek.
We headed further along through some fields, and saw a handsome stone arch over the Tulpehocken up ahead, which had been covered over with a sort of stucco.

Union Canal

Looking to the bridge from afar, there was a pile of stone rubble to the left of it on the far side of the Tulpehocken Creek. I didn’t realize it at the time, but upon inspection of my photo, this is old stones that are the remains of the lock chamber of Lock #24 East.
This would be the first lock site we actually went by since probably Lock #27 at Charming Forge. At that point, we couldn’t see the lock, but it was closer to the road. We had passed the site of Lock 30, then basically missed 29 and 28, passed but didn’t see 27, and then missed 26 and 25 which were on private farm properties, where we could only see distant canal remains.

Union Canal near Canal Road

I believe it was Dan that pointed out that the wall looked like lock stones.
It takes a special eye to notice things like this. If we were to compared the lock materials here to the ones we have been seeing on the Delaware and Hudson Canal, we would be looking for something completely different. Certainly, there are some of the same things such as curved stones at the ends, and gate recesses for when the lock gates opened and closed, but material and style differed quite a bit. D&H utilized dry laid stone with no mortar, and wood framing to protect the lock walls. Union Canal is finely cut.

Union Canal along Canal Road

Dan and Doug in particular were both very astute with noticing potential remnants all day. Little things that I might have missed, would not be missed by them. It was great to have more eyes so interested in these ruins.
The stones of the lock were not only in a pile of rubble on the west side of the road, but were built into the wall holding up the road on the east side. I figure the road must have passed over the lock directly and was then turned into the wall for the bridge after some flood or something.

Union Canal

Adjacent to the lock site was an old brick building that was apparently a school house. Diane told us that, and she knows the Pennsylvania Dutch country very well also. Both her and Dan are from the area, and so they both know a lot about it. Pete also is from around there, and has hiked countless stuff. He’s one of the maintainers of the Appalachian Trail above, as well as parts of the Mid State Trail that I love so much.
We turned left to continue on Canal Road, which follows the berm side for quite a while.

Union Canal went right here....

Like the previous hike, I did not have a Library of Congress map open to see where the locks were by comparison on this one. We would just have to go by what we thought they were while walking by, which turned out to be pretty good anyway.
The canal was close to the road, but it was very obscure. Just following along, unless you know what you’re looking for, you would never think this was ever a canal bed. The creeks in the area flood so badly that they’ve eroded it to almost obscurity in some places.

Old barn on Canal Road

I mentioned to Dan later on an analogy that just sort of came to me: history is like a game of hide-and-seek; if you don’t know the land or what it is you’re looking for, history can win and remain hidden forever. This was true from this very first lock site, and all along Canal Road where there was just a hint of a towpath hump off the road. This made the hike exciting for us right from the start. It also helped that there were so many other historic homes just about everywhere, and barns with the old vents and German architecture.

Lock #23 East

Canal Road took us out to Rt 422 and crossed it. The old canal was still to the left of the road as we continued ahead, and the Tulpehocken Creek moved off to the south a bit.
We were always watching to the left to look for change in elevation or some sort of ruins.
I noticed the next point of interest. Through the weeds to the left, I saw a small pile of stones, but they were large stones. This, I was certain, was the remains of yet another lock. We moved ahead just a bit, and it became more obvious.

Lock #23 East

The stone work of the lock was not much intact. There was a definite former lock chamber, but it was grassed over and looked to be silted in. Maybe the top blocks were taken off and recycled into something else like we had seen before.

Lock #23 East

If there was any question, it was gone when we got to a routed wooden sign by a boy scout that denoted this as Lock #23 E. It said “bicentennial 1776-1976”, so it’s possible that this boy scout sign was part of a project done 42 years ago!

Boy scout sign at Lock 23

The sign read “BSA Troop 402 5/75”. If that’s true, it was 43 years ago!
It seemed in part like a joke that it was up to the boy scouts to keep the history of this canal alive, but in other ways very cool because they served a community service they probably would never have considered. A group of people walking by found their work valuable over four decades later. We would continue to see the old boy scout signs all day.

There was a beautiful old stone farm house and nice barns to the right of the lock. I’m not sure what the Union Canal did for lock houses. With it being such an early canal, maybe they used existing homes and farm families, or maybe they constructed new lock houses. I’m not sure because there were not many lock houses left on this. Like everything else about this canal, this type of things seems to be pretty obscure.
We walked further down the road into an area of trailer and bungalows.

Old farm house

There were signs just about everywhere saying to say “no” to public sewer, which is apparently being imposed upon the people in the area.
There were houses that had metal scultpures and such, and one had a Yamaha motorcycle gas tank for a mail box and a bench made out of the back of a car out front.
All of the little bungalow houses and trailers and such were put right on the former route of the canal. Dan mentioned that Greg Paweslki told him some houses were built on the canal and even used a lock as a basement. I wondered if this could have been one of those areas.

Yamaha mail

The last house we passed by had an old kid’s bicycle leaning up against a tree, but it had been there for so long that the tree had grown right through the thing, and it was no longer movable.
We continued past the last house, and the canal prism became evident again along the left side of the road in a mowed lawn area.
We moved ahead and a small creek flowed over where the canal was and then into the Tulpehocken. There was no sign of a weir site here, probably flooded away like everything else.

Grown bicycle

Just after the creek, there was a rise in the land. It was a grassy hill basically, but we assumed that this could possibly have been another lock site.
We were left guessing about this one. The change in elevation seemed rather obvious, but there was no way of telling really.
Upon getting home, going through the photos, current maps, and the Library of Congress map of Berks County, I was able to determine that this was in fact the site of Lock #22 East. Most of the stone work must either be buried or recycled.

Lock #22 East site

We continued ahead, and the canal moved off to the left while the road went to the right. It went into some private land, and we continued to the intersection with Sheridan Road where we turned left. That took us back down to the edge of the canal.
Based on the old maps, I know the sites we saw were locks 24, 23, and 22. Between the historic maps I can find of Berks and Lebanon Counties, there are some missing sections, so I don’t really know where the next lock, Lock #21, was, but we have an idea of it.

Lock #22 East site.

Sheridan Road took us along a lovely old cemetery, called the Zions Reeds Cemetery or something I think. A sign dated it from 1723 to 1880.

Above Lock #22

We walked through part of the old cemetery, and then descended to the canal at a site that we think might have been Lock #21. There was no stone, but higher ground around it. A lot of these locks were at road crossings, and Main Street (old Rt 422) was just up ahead. I think it was probably in this area, but this was the only lock we’d actually pass that we weren’t really sure about where it would have been. We headed out to Main Street, turned right, and we could see the canal towpath bending away from the road on private land ahead.

Theoretical site of Lock #21

We followed Main Street up hill, and there was another beautiful old stone house on the corner where I thought the lock was. The road had been brought up higher obviously, because the level of the wall in front of it was so much lower. There could be a lock under that.

Lock #20 would have been near these homes somewhere apparently

Heading up hill, there was another old stone house on the right, and then yet another one on a flag lot off to the left with a barn. We reached the top of a hill and could see down through farm land toward the Tulpehocken and former canal site.

Nice old cabin

We were on the road heading in to the center of Stouchsburg.
This was another colonial town dating back to the early 1700s. The historic district has homes, some dating back to around 1750.
As we walked on, we had views to the north, toward the Blue Mountain, and I could see off to Round Head, where Showers’ Steps descend the ridge.
Down below, where the canal was to the south, we could see an old stone arch in the distance, which carries Scharff Road over the Tulpehocken. We remained on the road.

Historic scene of "Stouch's Bridge" and Union Canal lock to the right. Likely Lock #21 at Old 422.

We pushed along the field a bit further, and there was another one of the wooden signs made by the Boy Scouts in 1975, reading “West of this point, on the Tulpehocken Creek, lies Lock 20E Stouchsburg”. It was apparently just before the farm we saw below.

1837 church

We made our way into the start of town, and talked about where we’d be able to stop and eat. There wasn’t a lot to choose from in Stouchsburg, at least not at this time of day.
We passed Zion’s and Saint John’s Reed’s Lutheran Church, which had some plaques on it that read it was constructed I believe in 1837 (I remember because the church I grew up going to was constructed that same year). This church, as per the plaque, was founded in 1727, rebuilt in rebuilt 1744, and rebuilt again in 1837.

Lock #18 E

We continued through town past some lovely old homes, many built of stone, and turned to the left on Richland Road. This took us gradually down hill past another stone home.

A part of the Union Canal lock at 18 E

We crossed the former canal just before reaching a rather recently replaced bridge over the Tulpehocken Creek. This might have been Stouch’s Bridge, either that or the one on Old 422 was. Regardless, there was a lock here, Lock #18 E, and there was another scout sign to denote it. There was a little bit of rock in place at the lock site, but not much. The original road probably went right across the lock. Ahead, the new bridge had a piece of the lock mechanism secured to the top of it. I found out it’s predecessor had the piece on it as well, and they just moved it to the replacement one.

Old lock wall stone

After we got across the bridge, there was some kind of raceway flowing through. Doug was first to point out to me here that there was what appeared to be old canal stone at this site.
He was right; the old lock walls were removed and placed along the opposite side of the creek. There was no mistaking the rounded edges of the ends of the gate walls among the other rocks there. The raceway had a sort of arch built into it, but not sure from what. Maybe there was a mill on this exact point at one time.

Old mill remnant?

There was definitely a mill here somewhere, and it would make sense for it to have been on the opposite side, though not certain. The mill that stood there, according to the scout sign was called Klopp’s Mill.
There was a sort of bar place there along the creek, called Marion Rod and Gun Club I believe. We asked a guy coming out about the canal, and he seemed to know next to nothing about it. There was also a guy down on a bridge pier along the creek, and Dan asked him. He seemed not to know a thing or even care.

Repurposed canal lock remnants

This was not the first, nor would it be the last experience we had where no one seemed to know a thing about the Union Canal, despite it’s close presence.
We continued to the right on the road, which followed along the Tulpehocken Creek for a time. We could see remnants of the canal and towpath on the opposite side.
We would have tried to continue on the canal, or on the opposite side of the creek from it, but there was a guy fishing down there, so we opted to just stay on the road as it turned up hill to the south.

Tulpehocken, and Union Canal beyond

We headed up hill through fields to the intersection with Trego Road, in a new development. We turned right here, and then right again on Norman Lane. We headed to the west to come out on Hickory Road, which took us down hill. We almost cut to the right to the fields by way of a retention pond, but I didn’t want to start any trouble if we were seen by someone. It wasn’t far out of the way.
We headed down to the next intersection, and turned to the right for a side trip.

Lock 17 E site

We actually needed to go left on Bollinger Road, but I wanted to see the canal remnants to the right on Hickory, so we went for a side trip to have a look.

Lock remnant

It turned out to be well worth it. I believe the site was known as Raber’s Mill. THere was another scout sign that read this was the site of Lock #17 East.
There was a handsome old mill building in good repair straight ahead from the crossing, and to the right was the gutted stone frame of another old mill. The bridge that carried the creek appeared to go directly over the canal lock as well. The scout sign was to the left, with no stone visible, but to the downstream side was some stone remnants on which the bridge sat.

Lock #17 site

I looked a little further down beyond that, and I could see the bottom blocks of the former down stream side of the lock wall. Other cut stones were visible below the bridge. The mills also seemed to use the canal as a supplemental water source. There was a stone arch in the better of the two structures where there would have been some sorts of turbines, which appeared to feed right off from the canal. A lot of canals would sell their excess water rights to other industrial interests, so this might be the case here, or it might be from when the canal closed.

Tulpehocken, and former Union Canal beyond

We turned back the way we came, and continued on Bollinger Road, along the south side of the Tulpehocken. We passed through a brief swath of woods, then came out ot more farm land, with fields of cows. The canal across the other side appeared to have been filled in, because there wasn’t much of a trace of it.
We continued to the intersection with Reilly Road, where we turned left and soon crossed the Tulpehocken again on an old road bridge. The canal was recognizable on both sides. To the east, it was a watered trench, and to the west, there was an outlet into the Tulpehocken with a watered section up stream.

Union Canal

The section to the west of us was called Limestone Springs Preserve. I thought it’d be a regular park, and that we could walk right into it from the road, but that wasn’t the case.

Union Canal at Limestone Springs

We had to continue up hill into the little village o Millardville area, and then turn to the left on Tulpehocken Road. There was a cemetery on the left, which we were able to walk through, and the Tulpehocken Church of Christ on the right, made of lovely light colored stone.

Christ Church of Tulpehocken

We walked by the church, and then there were some pretty welcoming signs to the fishing preserve, unlike the other area which had no trespassing ones. We decided to have a walk down and see if they’d let us have a look at the canal.
As we headed down hill past a couple of buildings, two guys riding a utility ATV looked at us cautiously. I was wearing my red blazer and a Dispatch T shirt, probably looking weird. I greeted them and then asked if it would be possible to have a look at the old canal. The one guy said “Well, I can ask the property manager, but I don’t think he’s going to let ya in”.

Lock #16 E

I didn’t have high hopes for this, but when he came back out, they just told me to go in. I had to sign for the group, and they didn’t even charge me the normal $2 for fishing, though we were all prepared to pay it to have a look around.
I think Dan was the first to notice that the preserve was the home to Union Canal Lock #16 East. This lock was in nearly perfect condition. I was blown away seeing the rounded edges at the end, and gate recesses in such amazing shape. They even had a newer historic marker.

Lock 16 E

We were allowed to walk the canal route back in the direction we had come from, to the edge of the property, and then back. There was no way to get through following the canal exactly, because it went onto private land, and looking at the maps, it looks like some of it was destroyed for a quarry business there. Millards Quarry Pond extends just a bit beyond where the canal should have passed below the lock, but I was very happy we got to see as much of it as we did this time.

Out in the wind

We walked the towpath out to where we were, where the water flows out of the former canal back to the Tulpehocken. There were a lot of people fishing in the canal, totally unaware of it’s history. It had rocks along the edges for fishing spots. The fish jumped out of the water freely. There were signs saying not to catch and release, but to catch and eat what you catch.
We headed back the way we came when we got to the end, and took more photos of the old lock.
The guy running the place really didn’t know that much about it either, so I was telling him some.
We headed back up the hill and out at the entrance near the church, then turned to the left on Tulpehocken Road. This took us out into an area of open fields that was tough to deal with. The wind was really heavy, although the views were pretty nice.
We continued past where Old 422 came in on the right, and we followed this slowly into the start of the town of Myerstown, with more lovely old houses.

Farm scene toward Union Canal

We headed down hill and crossed Owl Creek on the road. We then turned to the left on Quarry Drive. Pete was well ahead of us at this time, and I called out to him that we were turning. He motioned something back to us, but turned to keep going.
It turned out Pete’s phone had died and he went direct back to his car at the end from this point. The rest of us turned left on Quarry Lane, and then skirted the back of a ball field parallel with it for a time. At the end of the field, where the road split, there was a path leading into the woods parallel with the Tulpehocken Creek. I knew the canal should have been here, but it must have been filled over. We began walking the path to the east.

Union Canal Lock #12 East

The high fill that was put over the canal came to an end, and then just below I was delighted to see some very obvious lock remnants, complete with some intact stone.
The south side wall was in pretty good shape, but more than half of the north side wall was destroyed. Rounded edges to the lower gate on the river side were intact, but most others were gone. The inland berm side was tipping pretty badly.

Union Canal and Owl Creek

We headed back down stream for a bit. The Owl Creek appears to flow continuously in the old canal bed for beyond where we could see, parallel with the Tulpehocken. I found out later that this was the site of Lock #12 East. We missed Locks 13 through 15 in the section where we walked the roads, and I couldn’t find anything of them on the historic aerial images. Lock 15, as per historic maps, must have been about where Millardsville Road crosses the site today. Lock 14 is just south of there before a bend in the creek. Lock 13 appears to have been completely destroyed and erased with the canal through farming.

Lock 12 E

After checking out the lock, we headed back to Quarry Drive, which turned and followed the Tulpehocken down stream. We followed this out to the intersection with East Mill Avenue. There was a stone arch bridge here, quite old, so I figured it was there along with the canal.

Union Canal

Quarry Drive must have been built over the old canal to this point, and the canal must go into the woods ahead. We turned to the right, then left on a side street to Maple Ave. I then cut almost across through a grassy area to come out behind the Myerstown Animal Hospital. I didn't know where exactly to look, but apparently Lock #11 East was in this area. I saw something that I thought might have been the canal prism in there behind the hospital, but I wasn't 100% SURE at the time.

Union Canal

From South Broad Street, I assume the canal went directly across and through what is now a parking lot. I couldn’t find any remnants beyond right away, because I was looking at it all wrong.

Myerstown

It turns out, the canal and the creek become one at the point beyond the parking lot at about Cherry Street. I was looking for canal prism, but not seeing it. We cut onto Center Avenue, and then cut to the left into a small road to a few homes thinking I might have been on it, but it was likely in the creek for this time. Further, I think that Lock #10 is at the point where Railroad Street crosses the creek and canal.
We crossed the likely lock site without even realizing it, and then cut through Myerstown Community Park on the south side of the old canal and creek. There were nice paved paths, and a foot bridge over it back to the north side, which we took. There was a lake on the south side, which is probably part of the original creek bed.

Union Canal

We soon reached College Street, and Dan was checking his phone for opportunities to stop and eat. There wasn't a lot directly on the route, and despite efforts to find a bar and grill, there was nothing. We'd have to settle for whatever we could find in town.
We turned right on College Street at the end of the path, and soon passed the Isaac Meier Homestead. This was the home of the founding father of Myerstown. He purchased the tract of land and built his home about 1757.
Meier started deeding off land in the early 1760s to create a settlement he planned to call “Tulpehocken Town” after the creek. Sadly, Meier was killed by an unknown assasin at a tevern in town in 1770, and afterwards people began to refer to it as “Meier’s Town”, and the name eventually became official.

Isaac and Catherine Meier Homestead

I cut over to the right on Conover Alley so that I could see if there were any other remnants. I still hadn’t realized that the canal and creek were one at this point.

Evangelical Seminary

The others got far ahead of me on the street, but I would catch up pretty quick.
On the left side of the road as I headed north, I could not help but notice the large brick facade of the Evangelical Seminary. Some of the buildings appeared to be of older vintage, and I wondered where they came from.
It turns out this was originally the Palatinate College, which opened it’s doors in 1868. It was purchased by the Evangelical church after financial troubles in 1894, and renamed Albright College after the founder Jacob Albright. The Albright college moved to Reading about 1929 and another Evangelical group purchased the site. The old school is now their center for Theology.
We headed into the downtown and stopped for some good pizza at Tony's Roma Pizza.

Old car and art in Myerstown

The pizza was surprisingly good, despite the idea that there is no good pizza out in PA, and I also had a delicious round meat thing I can never remember the name of.
I chatted with the guy and girl working the place, and they really didn’t seem to know a lot about the Union Canal either. The man, I assume the owner, had told us he’d just recently visited Easton and saw the locks of the Lehigh Canal, which I thought was cool, but made it more surprising that he didn’t know so much about the important history of the Union Canal.

Union Canal

I told them a bit of the story of the canal and the ties to George Washington, and they seemed genuinely interested with it, as well as with the fact that we were walking so far on it.

Union Canal

We headed back down toward the creek, and followed Maple Alley and Hershey Street heading west. We turned left down Locust Ave to have a better view of the creek, and it was at about this time that I realized that the creek and the canal were one at this point. I could tell by the topography that the former creek bed was in a different spot, and the creek followed a more “chosen” course, for lack of a better way of putting it.
A guy was out on the porch of a house as we walked by, and I decided to ask him about the canal. He admittedly didn’t know a lot about the canal, but said that there was a lock on Race Street. That was all I needed to hear. We headed back north on Locust.
We had to go as far as Park Ave and turn to the left on Race Street.

Lock #9 East

There was a lovely old stone homestead along the road just before reaching the crossing, and then it was obvious what we were seeing.

Old farm house

This lock was in the best shape of all of them we had seen yet. The stones were all in place, probably not one missing. The gate recesses were all perfect, and although the metal hardware was missing, it was obvious where it used to fit. This was an excellent site.
We walked south a little bit from here, toward Stoever Ave, with the idea that we would be turning to the right to reach the next park section through the lot of the Bayer Corporation, but it was chain link fenced all the way around, so we would have to go another way.

Lock 9

We turned back up Race Street and crossed the lock again, then cut into some farm property behind some buildings looking for a way to get through to the park more quickly. There were cows in the fields, and so we didn’t want to try to get through that way. We continued walking north to a VFW property where we skirted a field, then worked our way north to Main Street. We turned left on Main, then continued out to a left turn on Fairlane Ave. Around this time, Pete was texting me that he had come back looking for us.

Jackson Park

We turned left from Fairlane onto a paved trail that passes through the east side of Jackson Park, and then skirts a fence heading south. It leads to the Tulpehocken Creek, which still flows in the bed of the old Union Canal.
Doug and Dan pointed out to me that they spotted what appeared to be another old lock while I was walking ahead. Indeed they had.
Lock #8 E was another in great condition, but it was on private land just a bit out of reach. Dan was ready to head over to it, but I didn’t want to take a chance.

Lock #8 E

We continued walking the path which crossed Sterling Drive and then headed back out ot Fairlane Ave. We headed up to cross Fairlane, and I was delighted to see the next lock, Lock #7 E, in great shape and on park land. I was also delighted to see that Pete had found us just before finding this momentous lock, again the best we had seen of the whole day.
There was a small concrete dam in place, which was located at about the point where lock doors would have been, and oriented in the same direction toward the recesses.

Lock #7 E

With the dam in the lock, the Tulpehocken Creek’s free flow continues to the north of the canal, which is kept watered, but not at it’s historic depth.

Union Canal

We walked along it heading to the west along the lock, and just as we were leaving the end of the last gate area, there was a guy that the others were talking to briefly.

Old hardware recesses on Lock 7

The man was a member of the local historical society of Lebanon County, by the name of Smeltzer. He is personally restoring an historic barn that is going at the Union Canal Tunnel, nearby in Lebanon (the oldest existing transportation tunnel in the US).
He was very interested that there was a group of people examining the lock with such interest.
I got talking to him, and he said that some of the other locks further to the west are on private land, but that the owners appreciate the history and are having them restored!

Gate recesses at Lock 7

I was very happy to hear all of this. He even said that he is friends with the guy who owns Lock #8, and that he wouldn’t have cared if we went back there to look at it. I’m going to have to do another trip just to see all of this other stuff.
The man gave me his wife’s business card, as she is the one that is most likely to answer calls, and we are going to work together to coordinate some of the future hike sin this and the regular Union Canal series. Maybe I’ll make more contacts this way and continue to be able to see more of the sites. I’m more excited than ever about moving forward.

The Union Canal (right) and the Tulpehocken (left)

We continued following the path until we came out to Creamery Street where the park land ended. At this point, the Tulpehocken Creek and the canal came back close together, but didn’t join up yet. The two merge again a bit further to the west beyond Ramona Road.
We turned to the right on Creamery, and then turned to the left onto Laurel Drive. I recall something being an issue right here, but we cut through to the Jackson Elementary School area which took us back out to some fields. I recall we just went straight across some of these toward Ramona Road.

Along the old canal

Pete turned back before we reached any of those turns, because his car was now back at Jackson Park.
On the other side of Creamery, there was a no trespassing sign, but we could see the sun setting into the chamber of Lock #6 East, also in what appears to be really great shape. I would love to have a look at this one close up as well. I could just imagine going down the canal in a canoe or kayak, and actually passing through these historic locks.

Lock #6 E

I’d have loved to have continued on the canal from here, but it just wasn’t possible. Besides, so much of it is obliterated through quarry operations anyway.

Sun going down

We had to turn to the left on Ramona Road heading south toward the railroad tracks.
Although we would not reach the highest point on the Union Canal, where locks are numbered west starting at one again, the last five locks were parallel with us for the remainder of the trip. Sadly, it is likely that most all remnants of these locks have been destroyed.
What is terribly upsetting, is that until 2009, two of the oldest canal locks in America, Locks #4 and 5 East, were still extant and apparently in pretty good shape. They would have lookd similar to the last few we had seen before turning off from the canal.

2005 aerial of Locks 4 and 5

Both were destroyed in what appears to have been some flood prevention project on a farm in 2010. The two oldest canal locks in America, personally inspected by George Washington.

Current aerial of Locks 4 and 5 sites

It was said that Washington inspected the five locks that had been constructed during a visit in 1793, between Lebanon and Myerstown. It is logical to assume that it was these five locks, because they were teh first five and between those towns. 6 through 9 were also between the two towns, but I would imagine they would work consecutively.

The tracks

We headed down to the former Reading Railroad tracks, which is still very active with double tracks in place. We actually passed several trains on it during the coure of the day, either visible or audible. Rather than walk King Street, it’d be easy to turn right here and just head back toward Lebanon.
We assued we would definitely pass a train, so we’d just go as far as where King Street was closely parallel, but we didn’t pass a single one. The quarry areas were often to the north of us, but we had no trouble.

Sun setting

It was getting dark fast, but it didn’t matter at this point. We could see fine where we were. It was somewhat foggy, and the wind was a bit painful, but it was manageable.
There was a somewhat fogged over crescent moon to the left, and I pointed out to everyone that if you were to connect either end of the moon with a straight line, then continue that line to the horizon, you are looking due south, anywhere in the northern hemisphere. I’ve been reading a book lately that reminded me of some of these old scout tidbits I’d learned, and even used, but neglected to share so much as of late.

Crescent moon overhead

We continued to East Street where we turned right to head north. Where East Street joined with Route 422 was where the Union Canal used to cross on a diagonal. It passed a trailer park and in front of the local Weis Market as it made it’s way west on a long level, and then passes through the area directly in front of the Walmart where we were parked. We managed to get back in reasonable tine, and there was as usual difference of opinion as to how many miles we actually had done, but I was happy that they were interesting miles.

The Union Canal is an amazing, forgotten piece of history in so many places it helped to shape, and finding the information on these sites feels more exciting than average because I feel as though I’m often the first person, at least in a long while, to commit it to print. I had to use Library of Congress historic maps, current aerials and USGS maps, historic USGS from Arcgis, Google Earth’s historic imagery, and a degree of educated observation.

Heidelberg: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3823bm.gla00029/?sp=35&r=0.691,0.324,0.29,0.132,0
Lebanon: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3823l.la000765/?r=0.085,0.138,1.018,0.464,0

I very much look forward to the next hike in this series to uncover more history.