| Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park | |
|---|---|
 The D&R Canal running through | |
  Location in New Jersey  Location in United States | |
| Location | Franklin Park, New Jersey |
| Coordinates | 40°22′7.27″N74°36′58.14″W / 40.3686861°N 74.6161500°W [1] |
| Area | 6,595 acres (26.69 km2) |
| Opened | 1974 |
| Operated by | New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry |
| Website | Official website  |
Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park is a New Jersey state park along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. [2]
In 1974, most of the canal system was declared a New Jersey state park. It remains one today, and is used for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. A graded natural-surface trail along the side of the canal, which was the tow path that mules used to tow barges on the canal before steam powered barges, is now used for hiking, jogging, bicycling, and horseback riding. These trail connect with the trails in Pennsylvania's Delaware Canal State Park by way of five bridges that cross the Delaware River. Some 36 miles (58 km) of the main canal, and all 22 miles (35 km) of the feeder canal, still exist. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.
The canal is accessible from many points along its route, with small parking areas providing access at most road crossings. One of the most scenic and popular sections of the D&R Canal state park is the segment along Lake Carnegie in Princeton, New Jersey, which features the canal on one side of the path and the lake on the other side. Another attractive section borders the Colonial Park Arboretum and Gardens in East Millstone.
When the canal was used for transportation, New Jersey's landscape was mostly rural, and its primary business was agriculture. Research director of the New Jersey Historical Commission Howard Green is quoted as saying, "it is one of the most beloved parks in the state, a sinewy, snake-like greenway through one of the most heavily populated parts of the world. It has gone from being the machine in the garden, to being the garden in the machine."
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport was common where sailing was impractical due to tunnels and bridges, unfavourable winds, or the narrowness of the channel.
Franklin Township is a township in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 68,364, an increase of 6,064 (+9.7%) from the 2010 census count of 62,300, which in turn reflected an increase of 11,397 (+22.4%) from the 50,903 counted in the 2000 census. The township was the state's 19th most-populous municipality in 2020, after being ranked 22nd in 2010.
Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that connects the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, transporting anthracite coal from eastern Pennsylvania during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the existing route from the Pennsylvania Coal Region down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up the occasionally treacherous Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.
The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, shared-use paths; as of 2021, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of the route (35%) meets this criteria. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits.
Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea.
The Henry Hudson Trail is a rail trail in western and northern Monmouth County, New Jersey. The trail is named for Henry Hudson, who explored the harbor at Atlantic Highlands and the Raritan Bayshore coastline in the early 1600s. The trail is not near the Hudson River.
The Schuylkill Canal, or Schuylkill Navigation, was a system of interconnected canals and slack-water pools along the Schuylkill River in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, built as a commercial waterway in the early 19th-century. Chartered in 1815, the navigation opened in 1825, to provide transportation and water power.
The Millstone River is a 38.6-mile-long (62.1 km) tributary of the Raritan River in central New Jersey in the United States.
The 79-acre (0.32 km2) Bull's Island Recreation Area is on Bull's Island at Raven Rock along the Delaware River approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Stockton, within Delaware Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. The park is a part of the 3,578 acres (14.48 km2) Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park. It offers a boat launch, fishing, and a nature trail. Canoes, kayaks, tubes, and rafts can be rented three miles north in Point Pleasant. The surrounding park includes a portion of the D&R Canal Trail, a multi-use trail built on the former Belvidere-Delaware Railroad bed that runs along the island on a north-south route. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, more commonly called the Delaware Canal, runs for 60 miles (97 km) parallel to the right bank of the Delaware River from the entry locks near the mouth of the Lehigh River and terminal end of the Lehigh Canal at Easton south to Bristol. At Easton, which today is the home of The National Canal Museum, the Delaware Canal also connected with the Morris Canal built to carry anthracite coal to energy-starved New Jersey industries.
New Jersey is a state within the United States of America that lies on the north eastern edge of the North American continent. It shares a land border with the state of New York along the north, ratified by both states after the New York – New Jersey Line War, which is its only straight line border. New Jersey is slightly larger than the country of Kuwait.
The Lehigh Canal is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern regions of Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of 20 years beginning in 1818. The lower section spanned the distance between Easton and present-day Jim Thorpe. In Easton, the canal met the Delaware and Morris Canals, which allowed anthracite coal and other goods to be transported further up the U.S. East Coast. At its height, the Lehigh Canal was 72 miles (116 km) long.
Delaware Canal State Park is a 830-acre (336 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Bucks and Northampton Counties in Pennsylvania. The main attraction of the park is the Delaware Canal which runs parallel to the Delaware River between Easton and Bristol.
The Raritan River Greenway is a proposed path in Somerset County, New Jersey that would link Branchburg Township to the East Coast Greenway with the Delaware and Raritan Canal trail in South Bound Brook. Raritan River Greenway is a priority park for Somerset County.
The D&R Canal trail is a recreational trail in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The 77-mile (124 km) trail is made up of three segments that transverse three counties: a canal towpath from New Brunswick to Trenton; a canal towpath/rail trail from Trenton to Bull's Island; and a rail trail from Bull's Island to Frenchtown. The three combined trails together form the largest completed trail in New Jersey. Much of the trail runs along the existing Delaware & Raritan Canal within the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park.
The Susquehanna Canal of the Pennsylvania Canal System was funded and authorized as part of the 1826 Main Line of Public Works enabling act, and would later become the Susquehanna Division of the Pennsylvania Canal under the Pennsylvania Canal Commission. Constructed early on in America's brief canal age, it formed an integral segment of the water focused transportation system which cut Philadelphia-Pittsburgh (pre-railroad) travel time from nearly a month to just four days.
The Delaware River Greenway Partnership (DRGP) is a non-profit organization, created in 1989 and located in Stockton, New Jersey, in the historic Prallsville Mills complex. DRGP's mission is to promote cross-river connections and communication, and to preserve and enhance the natural and historic resources of the lower Delaware River in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
| Authority control: National |
|---|
