One of the advantages to living in the Eastern US is the presence of remains of the transportation canal network from the early days of the American industrial revolution. Actually, I should say that it’s a little known advantage because it’s pretty rare that I to find someone that knows that they existed, much less where the remains can be found.

The canals linked production centers to coastal centers via a system of horse-drawn barges. Unfortunately, they were not proven to be either very profitable or efficient, and as a result eventually became the Beta to the railroads’ VHS. For me, they were one of those historical sidebars that never fully registered until I saw actual proof. Proof came when I stumbled on the remains of one the Middlesex Canal locks not far from where I live. Since, I’ve become rather fascinated in the ruins, partly because they present a tactile history that have mostly been forgotten, partly because there is a strange romance to good ideas that didn’t quite turn out as well as expected.

Not to mention that they give me an excuse to stomp around in the woods from time to time.

On Saturday, I unexpectedly found the remains of a canal aqueduct as I was driving around outside of the town of Harvard. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to place the structure on one of the canals that I know about. This hasn’t been helped by the fact that I don’t have a clear sense of where I was at beyond, "I’m pretty sure that this is too far west to be the Middlesex."

Current Music: Pixies, "Gigantic"