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When a Waterway Opened a Frontier, United a Nation
More than any other state, Ohio has been America's transportation hub.
Before turnpikes and interstate highways crisscrossed the state... before the Lincoln Highway became the nation's first coast-to-coast highway... before railroads chugged across the landscape...water was the easiest and cheapest way to move products east and west, north and south.
When the Ohio & Erie Canal opened in 1827, it was the first major canal west of the Appalachian Mountains. Along with New York's Erie Canal, it quickly became part of the most important superhighway system of its day.
By connecting the Ohio frontier with New York and New Orleans, the Ohio & Erie Canal helped people and products flow across America, fueling westward expansion, a national market economy and regional industrial might.
Today, the Ohio & Erie Canalway is a National Heritage Area: a place to experience trails, trains and scenic byways, canal towns and ethnic neighborhoods, working rivers and great lakes, industrial landscapes and green spaces, as you explore our past, present and future.
The Canalway is one of just 27 National Heritage areas designated by congress to preserve and share important aspects of america's heritage. It is not a traditional park where land is owned by one organization. Instead, it is a lived-in region where the natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a nationally significant landscape. Communities and organizations work together to advance the Canalway idea.
Click here for the Ohio & Erie Canalway website
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