Those who leave the Mohawk Towpath Byway to find a Pokemon will be shot!

Seriously, there are some interesting stories evolving about these new wave encounters on the Byway.  My closest encounter was to see Maryanne Mackey drawing a Pokemon character while answering questions by visitors to a recent Byway booth set up at the Schenectady County Historical Society’s Canal Fest.

As you visit the Byway what is the strangest story you have heard?

These individual stories are what brings the Mohawk Towpath Byway to life.  Share them with me, with friends, and with your neighbors.  There’s something new on the Byway every day.

Have a voice in how our community is presented to visitors on the Byway.  You are invited to a meeting of the Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway on Tuesday, June 14 at 7 PM at the Clifton Park Halfmoon Library at 475 Moe Road in Clifton Park.  The agenda includes:

• Creating a birding trail in the Vischer Ferry Preserve
• Improving a riverwalk trail from Clutes
• Brainstorming a worthy project to apply for grant money
• Organizing the 14th Annual Duathlon
• Planning an Erie Canal Bicentennial Celebration

Come join the fun.  The public is invited!

Several members including a majority of the Board of Directors met on a recent Saturday morning to review and update our organization’s Action Plan.  Facilitated by Ray Patterson, one of our charter members, we had a productive session that reviewed our mission statement and vision, our progress toward achieving that vision, and mapped out initiatives that would get us closer to that vision.  This review will be most helpful as we put together a budget.  If you are a member and would like to see what we are proposing for our Action Plan please contact Paul Olund, President or Eric Hamilton, Membership Director.

We have built a broad based organization to fulfill our vision, including Friends of all ages, seniors who live in our region, as well as families, and youth in our regional schools.  We have developed and implemented a full year calendar of activities that is widely publicized and draws visitors and investment to the Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway.

This is how our organization’s Action Agenda of 2013 – 14 starts.  Where are we today?  Are we on the right track?  What do we need to do now to advance our vision?  Do we need to…

• Develop Our Story
• Reach Out
• Utilize Our Volunteer Base
• Enhance the Byway Experience
• Develop and Schedule Events
• Strengthen the Organization

The Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway will be gathering at 9 AM on Saturday, March 19, 2016, at the historic Grooms Tavern at the corner of Sugar Hill Road and Grooms Road, Rexford, to map out the organization’s future, at least the next five years.

Will you join us?  Perhaps Samuel Grooms or one of his team will provide lunch as our session winds down by mid day.  You are encouraged to attend, bring a friend, meet new friends, and provide your perspective on the Mohawk Towpath Byway.

Shenendehowa Rotary is partnering with Giffy’s Bar-B-Catering to hold a Chicken and Biscuit Dinner fund raiser for the Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway on Sunday, February 21, 2016, from 4 to 6 PM at the Vischer Ferry Fire House community room at 360 Riverview Road, in Vischer Ferry (Rexford mailing address).   Tickets are available from any Rotary member, the Friends or from the Mohawk Towpath Byway.  Dinner is $10 a person, $8 for seniors, and child (10>) $6.

Tickets will be available (while they last) at the door and take out is also available.

This locally prepared dinner is reminiscent of the type of fare that one would have experienced on the Erie Canal back in its “heyday”: chicken, biscuits, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, beverages, and light desert.  Come out and enjoy a hardy meal with friends, family, and neighbors right on the Mohawk Towpath Byway.

Before the Vischer Ferry Preserve was established; even before the 1842 enlarged Erie Canal was abandoned in 1917 the area south of Riverview Road was a very different place than we see it today.  The area was open agricultural land having been farmed by generations and cultures of native peoples and several generations of Europeans including Dutch and English.  The community around Clutes Dry Dock was thriving.

A portion of the Clutes community drawn before 1878.  Note the dry dock to the left and the culvert and stream to which the dry dock was drained. – from Clifton Park Collection

Fertile agricultural land will slowly grow back to mature forest in as little as two or three human generations.

The Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway have explored the area around Clutes and re-establish some of the historic connections to improve recreational potential. After three successful work details there is a trail between two farmer’s bridge abutments along the Mohawk River, the current Erie Canal.

A map drawn by Paul Olund on an areal photograph showing the current vegetative cover and some of the features including a newly re-established trail between two farmers bridge abutments.

A trail cleanup crew discusses what seems to be part of the early “Clinton’s Ditch” north of the Clutes Dry Dock.

A total of 39 person hours with hand tools and three hours of chainsaw use  were required to re-establish the connecting trail between the two farmer’s bridge abutments.

Volunteers Joanne and Paul Coons show off the Byway and alternatives for visiting.

The Canal Fest at Mabee Farm provided excellent exposure for the stories of the Mohawk Towpath Byway. The event attracted all demographics from teens to seniors, families to individuals, and a large variety of ethnic backgrounds. The key message we were trying to emphasize was the self-guided cell phone based tour of features along the Byway corridor. It was enlightening to learn the variety of individual comfort with communication technology, people [like me] who still have flip phones for emergencies only to those who sport large screen devises with all the latest apps.

The Canal Fest attracted a wide demographic as seen in this shot of the Glenville Traveling Museum.

The big draw at the inside exhibits at the festival were the Stewart’s ice cream and the folk toys on display by the Glenville Traveling Museum.

For me there was an opportunity to network with other not-for-profits who have stories that intertwine with the Byway stories:

• The ALCO Historical Society
• ECOS, the Environmental Coalition of Schenectady
• Schenectady Historical Society
• Solar Sal Project
• The Audubon Society and others.

Truly something in it for everyone.  Be sure to mark your calendar for the last weekend in July 2016 for the Mabee Farm Canal Fest.