#82484: Whitewater Canal State Historic Site

The Whitewater Canal State Historic Site includes three main features that are in this picture collage.

The square image in the upper left shows a reconstructed canal boat, Ben Franklin III, being pulled up the canal by a team of two brown-colored draft horses walking between the steel rails on the original towpath. Off in the distance is the Duck Creek Aqueduct downstream from the boat. On this sunny, cloud-filled day, people are milling along Pennington Road on the south side of the canal. (photo courtesy of Ron Yurcak)

The square image on the upper right shows the red brick, Metamora Grist Mill, built in 1899 to replace an earlier mill that burned down. The two-story mill is flanked by the street on the south side and the stone canal lock, canal race, and water wheel on the north side with wooden ramps providing visitors access to the water works. (photo courtesy of Paul Baudendistel)

The lower horizontal image is an aerial shot of the 70’ long wooden, covered aqueduct channeling the canal across Duck Creek 16’ below. In the afternoon sun, the mottled red paint on the metal roof covers the canal channel with the south side clad in red vertical wood siding, while the north side is open framed. The railroad tracks and train trestle lie alongside the aqueduct on the canal’s original towpath. This is the only original wooden covered aqueduct in the country and is both a National Civil Engineering Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.