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Most recent issue
of Towpath Topics:
March 2008
The
March 2008 issue was mailed to members during the last week of
March. |
News Item:
Colonel Loammi
Baldwin gets his sword
(YouTube video)
Become a member of the
Middlesex Canal Association
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Presidents
of the
Middlesex Canal Association |
| Arthur Louis Eno |
1962 - 1972 |
| Douglas P. Adams |
1972 - 1975 |
| Wilbar M. Hoxie |
1975 - 1977 |
| Frances B. VerPlanck |
1977 - 1981 |
| H. Lawrence Henchey, Jr. |
1981 - 1983 |
| Nolan T. Jones |
1983 - 1985 |
| Paul Pearsall |
1985 - 1987 |
| David A. Fitch |
1987 - 1990 |
| Burt VerPlanck |
1990 - 1994 |
| Nolan T. Jones |
1994 - |
The Middlesex Canal
Museum-Visitor Center
is
open noon to 4pm every Saturday and Sunday from Apr 14
to June 15 and from Sept 6 to Nov 23. See the Calendar
for exact dates.
The Middlesex Canal
Museum - Visitors Center
is located at the Faulkner Mills,
71 Faulkner St., No. Billerica MA
For more information on the Museum, call 978-670-2740.
Volunteers for the museum are being recruited. If
interested, e-mail
museum2007 AT middlesexcanal.org
Calendar of meetings of the
Middlesex Canal Association and Museum volunteering
Directions to the Museum/Visitors Center:
From Route 3 North or South:
Take Route 3 North or South to Exit 28 “Treble Cove Road, North
Billerica, Carlisle”. At the end of the ramp, turn onto Treble Cove Road
toward North Billerica. At about ¾ mile, bear left at a fork. After
another ¾ mile you'll come to a traffic light; this is Route 3A; go
straight. Go about ¼ mile to a 3-way fork;
take the middle road, which will put St. Andrew's Church on your left. Go
about ¼ mile; bear right, then turn right onto Faulkner Street. Go about
¼ mile; the Museum is on your left and you can park
across the street on your right, just beyond the falls.
From Route 495 North or South:
Take the Woburn Street N. Billerica/Lowell Exit.
From the North take a left, from the South a right onto Woburn Street,
which becomes Billerica Avenue. At the RR Station parking lot, take a
right; Go
¼ mile and the Faulkner Mill is on the right. The parking lot is on the
left.
Directions by train:
The Lowell Commuter Line runs between Boston's
North Station and Lowell's Gallagher Terminal. Get off at the North
Billerica station, which is one stop south of Lowell. From the station
side of the tracks, the Museum is a 3-minute walk down Faulkner Street on
the right side.
Telephone: 1-978-670-2740
National
Canal Museum
(in Easton, PA)
The President of the Middlesex Canal Association is Nolan
Jones.
For information about publications available through the
Middlesex Canal Association, contact Betty Bigwood.
For information on membership in the Middlesex Canal
Association, contact Neil
Devins.
For information about the Middlesex Canal Commission and
its efforts to preserve and restore what remains of the Middlesex Canal, contact
Tom
Raphael.
For information about upcoming
walks and tours of the Middlesex Canal, contact Roger Hagopian.
Send comments, suggestions, photos, and any
other interesting information about the Middlesex Canal to webmaster Robert
Winters at robert@middlesexcanal.org.
Note: All e-mail
sent to the above addresses will be forwarded to the appropriate person after
being screened by the webmaster for SPAM and viruses.
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Calendar
of Middlesex Canal Association and Related Events
Mar 15
to Jun 15 - The Middlesex Canal Museum will be open, Sat &
Sun, 12 to 4pm between these dates.
May 17
- Canal Society of New Jersey, Field Trip to the Union Canal Tunnel
& Lebanon County Historical Society’s Canal Festival. A
National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, the 600-foot-long
Union Canal tunnel, cut through solid rock, was an early
19th-century link between Reading and Harrisburg. It is the oldest
existing transportation tunnel in the US. A 100-acre park and a
scenic water-filled section of the canal surround the tunnel, and
guided boat rides pass through. The festival includes vendors, craft
demonstrations, live musical entertainment, sheep shearing, antiques
of the canal era, carriage rides, canoe rentals, and an evening
barbeque. The cost of this one-day trip will be approximately $45
per person, including the bus from Morristown and the evening
barbeque. Lunch is on your own from vendor booths. The guided boat
ride costs an extra $6 per person. To reserve a space call Mark
Hamill at 908-561-1250.
May 17
- Society for Industrial Archaeology/NE, Tour, Cumberland &
Oxford Canal, Maine. Details
and directions Background
June 21
- Canal Society of New Jersey, Waterloo Canal Day, Waterloo Village
on the Morris Canal; 11am-4pm. Museum open. Free admission and
boat ride. Food & sales items. 908-722-9556; www.canalsocietynj.org.
Sept 6
to Nov 23 - The Middlesex Canal Museum will be open, Sat &
Sun, 12 to 4pm, between these dates.
Sept 15
to 17 - World Canals Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For an
agenda & leads to registration and accommodation information,
see www.intertaskconferences.com/canals2008/canals_E_program.html.
Oct
17-19 - Pennsylvania Canal Society, Field Trip to Lower Chesapeake
& Ohio Canal. Trip will cover the Monocacy Aqueduct, Whites
Ferry, Edwards Ferry, Lock 25, Seneca Aqueduct , Lock 24 Violettes
Lock, Pennyfield Lock and a tour of the refurbished Great Falls
Tavern Visitors Center. A Ride on the mule drawn canal boat will be
included in the trip. For information, contact Dave Johnson at
301-530-7473. |
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1890 photo of the remains of the Shawsheen
Aqueduct of the Middlesex Canal (from a glass slide)
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Towpath Topics
(newsletter of the Middlesex Canal Association)
Communication from
Robert Fulton
(from the September 1994 and March 2000 issues of Towpath Topics)
The Canal Boat by Nathaniel Hawthorne
(Hawthorne's account of a trip on the Erie Canal,
originally published in the December 1835 issue of New-England
Magazine, as transcribed by the University of Rochester.)
The First Issue:
Canal News -
October 1963 (vol. 1, no. 1)
(added May 12, 2003)
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The Middlesex Canal Association Annual Meeting on May 4,
2003 featured
guest speaker J.R. Greene, historian and author of many books on the
history of the Quabbin Reservoir and the towns that were eradicated to
create the reservoir. If you are interested in the books of J.R. Greene, a
listing and contact information is provided here.
Books by
J.R. Greene
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The first issue of the Middlesex
Canal Association newsletter was published in October 1963. Originally
named "Canal News", the first issue featured a contest to name the
newsletter. A year later, the newsletter was renamed "Towpath Topics".
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"To step down from some busy thoroughfare
onto the quiet towpath of a canal....is to step backward a hundred years or more and to
see things in a different, and perhaps more balanced perspective." Tom
Rolt,
British author
Anchor stone of the floating towpath (foreground)
Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitors Center at Faulkner Mills (background)
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BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF
BALDWIN, MAINE
June 23, 2002
On June 22-23, 2002, six members of the Middlesex Canal Association made the 115-mile journey to Baldwin, Maine to join the festivities as they celebrated their 200th anniversary. Baldwin is just west of Sebago Lake. There was a parade, historical exhibit, barbecue, and block dance on Saturday. On Sunday, a formal program of speeches by prominent community members was followed by the release of green and white balloons, an ice cream social and birthday cake. It was a lot of fun.
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Few people realize that Loammi Baldwin and Josiah Pierce (Count Rumford's half brother) formed a business partnership in what was then northern Massachusetts. Josiah ran the logging business for Loammi and later became its owner. This tract of land was named Baldwin after
Loammi.
Loammi Baldwin constructed a home there similar to the Baldwin Mansion in North Woburn. The current Josiah Pierce, a direct descendant, gave us a most gracious tour of the beautiful estate that they still operate as a farm. Count Rumford's mother, Ruth Thompson Pierce, is buried there in the family burial ground.
- Betty Bigwood
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This appeared as a two inch by two inch advertisement on
the fourth and last page of the AMERICAN TRAVELLER, Boston MA, Tuesday
morning, June 8, 1830, Vol. 5, No. 8.
(Donated to the Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitor Center by John Ciriello)
Middlesex
Canal Corporation Records
Mogan Center Archives
at UMass Lowell
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