The Farmington Canal Company was formed in 1825 and began construction the same year linking the tidewater of New Haven with Southwick, Massachusetts. By 1827, the canal had been completed to Cheshire. By the following year, the canal was complete to Farmington. There were the usual problems, lack of funding, drought, floods and vandalism. 1829 brought the canal to Westfield, Ma and in 1835 to the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. The following year the canal merged with the Northampton Canal and became the New Haven and Northampton Canal Co.
As you may recall the era, canals are losing out to railroads. This canal was no different. By 1848, a railroad was replacing it. It is estimated the canal was never profitable and ended up losing stockholders a million dollars.
Today, the canal towpath is being renovated as a greenway linking New Haven with Northampton. My ride today was on the southern section in the Hamden area. As I rode south toward Yale University, the landscape changed to being more urban and not to my liking. I biked through one tunnel with several surveillance cameras and decided I was out of my element.
The ride north was much nicer. The photo above shows some of the original walls of the canal. Somewhere near Wallingford, the greenway is still on the drawing board. So that was my turnaround spot.
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