Some months ago, citizens from the Madison County towns of Madison, Eaton, and Hamilton, led by Diane Van Slyke of the (CCA), began to envision a trail that someday could stretch nearly 100 miles from the Erie Canal near Utica to the Susquehanna River along the historic route of the 170-year old Chenango Canal. Subsequently, the CCA, which already manages a five-mile trail along a surviving stretch of the old Chenango Canal in Madison and Eaton, requested help from Parks & Trails New York’s Healthy Trails, Healthy People (HTHP) program to extend their trail another five miles southward to the Village of Hamilton. Independently, residents of the Oneida County Village of Clinton, a few miles to the north, also sought HTHP program assistance to establish a trail along the Chenango Canal route linking the village to an existing rail trail in the Town of Marshall. Further south in Chenango County, Parks & Trails New York has already been assisting the Chenango Greenway Conservancy with their efforts to establish a trail in the City of Norwich along the Chenango River, near to the former canal route.
Calling it the Chenango Connections Corridor, the area’s citizens are now working in conjunction with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; the NYS Canal Corporation; and Parks & Trails New York staff, as part of the HTHP program, to shape a vision and implementation plan for the corridor that spans three counties and multiple villages and towns. Already they have taken steps that may result in pieces of the trail extension to Hamilton opening by the end of 2008!
* A recent meeting of stakeholders and potential partners in Hamilton yielded broad agreement on the desirability of linking the current towpath trail with Hamilton.
* The Village of Hamilton purchased land along the canal right-of-way, creating an opportunity to connect to trails in the village and at Colgate University via an existing rail trail and the abandoned O&W Railroad bed.
* During field exploration in April, Diane Van Slyke and Parks & Trails New York staff “discovered” an unpaved access road that will further facilitate a Village of Hamilton connection.
(from Parks & Trails NY Enewsletter)
This is great I had no idea there was a Chenango Canal Corridor and I like the idea of a trail along the Chenango River. I will have to link up to this post and do a blurb on it on my NY blog. I go to Norwich allthe time, it’s about 20 minutes away.
These trails should ultimately reach the confluence of the Chenango & the Susquehanna at Binghamton. There has been some trail-building already accomplished in the city, although it doesn’t necessarily follow the path of the old Chenango Canal very closely