Canal Exploration Center

Canal Exploration Center is located in a historic building once used as a tavern, store, and residence.

Inside, you can interact with maps and games to discover why a growing nation needed canals. Meet people who lived or worked along this watery interstate “highway.” Read a diary entry by a teenage canal worker. Listen to John Malvin, a free African American, recall his experiences as a canal boat captain. Try on a captain's frock coat or the simpler coat of a boatman. Decide whose money and whose opinion to trust. What did the notion of progress mean to different people? Canals brought changes in immigration, jobs, communications, and home life. Step into the 1800s debate as citizens express their feelings in speeches and newspapers. How much should taxpayers invest in public works projects? Who benefits? Questions like these remain relevant today.

A small retail outlet by the front desk offers both modern national park souvenirs and reproduction items like what might have been at a store in the 1800s.