MID HUDSON

Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal Museum 
https://www.canalmuseum.org/

1315 Main Street High Falls, NY 12440 

Hours: Labor Day through Memorial Day, Friday to Monday, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM  

Phone: 845-687-2000

              

Historical Description:                                                                            

"The Delaware and Hudson Canal was a 108-mile, man-made waterway, an engineering feat of preindustrial America that brought a new form of energy from the hills of Pennsylvania out to the Hudson River. From 1828 to 1898, mules pulled barges laden with anthracite coal along river valleys from Honesdale in northeastern Pennsylvania to Eddyville on the Rondout Creek near the villages of Kingston and Rondout. From here, it was shipped on barges down the Hudson to New York City and up the river to Canada."

              

The Site:                                                                                                  

"The D&H Canal Museum features an outstanding example of a late 19th century gothic chapel, which was the first (and only) Episcopal church built in the historic hamlet of High Falls. St. John's parishioners included many employees of the D&H Canal, including local lock tenders. The first floor of the parish house featured a social hall with a stage where school plays and dances were held. As recorded in a 1946 history of the church, St. John's was "acclaimed to be architecturally and ecclesiastically a gem." The parish house currently houses a museum which interprets the unique history of the Delaware & Hudson Canal by collecting and preserving documents, printed materials, art and artifacts relating to the D&H Canal."