A “little short of madness.” That is how Thomas Jefferson responded when two delegates from New York approached him with the idea to build the Erie Canal in January 1809.

Jefferson’s comment did not discourage New Yorkers. On January 4, 1817, New York State began building a 363-mile long canal to link the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and the Midwest.

Janice Fontanella, site manager of Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, New York, joins us to discuss the Erie Canal, its construction, and the impact that this waterway made on New York and the United States.

This episode originally posted as Episode 028.

 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/247

  

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Complementary Episodes

• Episode 035: Michael Lord, Historic Hudson Valley & Washington Irving
• Episode 051: Catherine Cangany, Frontier Seaport: A History of Early Detroit
• Episode 071: Bruce Venter, Saratoga and Hubbardton, 1777
• Episode 113: Brian Murphy, Building the Empire State
• Episode 239: Joseph Adelman, Post & Travel in Early America

 

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