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Peterson Canal Snowshoe/Ski
Due to the imminent blizzard the Peterson Canal snowshoe/ski event on Sunday, February 15th will be postponed until March 1st, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
New Meadows Lake boat ramp, Brunswick
Ed Benedikt, former Board member of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay (FOMB), organized this winter hike of the Peterson Canal some years ago bringing attention to the historic landmark; America’s first canal. Ed passed away last Sunday the 8th. FOMB, the New Meadows Lake
Association, KELT and Bath Historical Society cosponsor this snowshoe/ski outing in his memory. Participants will meet opposite the New Meadows Lake boat ramp on the Old Brunswick Rd. at 11am Sunday the 15th and should allow 3 hours for the 2.5 mile roundtrip hike.
“You who enjoy a stroll in the countrythese crisp winter days can find no more interesting and enjoyable tramp than that along the old canal which was built over 100 years ago to connect the New Meadows and Kennebec Rivers”; – Bath Independent in 1911
The Peterson Canal was built around 1790 to connect Merrymeeting Bay with the New Meadows River, facilitating downstream transportation of logs- “Lumber and Masts…directly into Casco Bay and to Falmouth without going to sea or running the hazard of going down that rapid torrent, the main Stream of the Kennebeck,” (from the petition to the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for permission to cut a canal from the head of the NewMeadows River into Merrymeeting Bay, dated January 1, 1786). Due to the difference in tides between New Meadows Lake and Merrymeeting Bay the canal was useful only for a very few hours a day and so was short-lived. “Today, this waterway, once built by men of industry and vision, is little more than a wet scar on the earth,” wrote Ed Benedikt. That scar however does make an excellent jaunt between the Lake and the Bay.
Meet at 11:00 across from the boat launch to the New Meadows Lake on Old Brunswick Road in Bath. Click HERE for a Google map!
More details about the Canal
For questions the day of the hike, contact Cheri Brunault at 978-476-6457.FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Call Kathleen McGee, 666-3598
fomb@comcast.net
Sarah Stapler