middle of the water

Here it is: the halfway point between Albany and Buffalo on the old Erie Canal. Camillus Erie Canal Park is just west of Syracuse; 400-some acres stretch along a section of the old canal that gets filled with water each spring so that we can get a really good view of what the canal looked like back in the 1860s and into the beginning of the 20th century. This version of the canal is what is left after the first enlargement of the original channel. In the 1910s, the final enlargement of the canal was built, changing the route—in this case, bypassing this section completely—and changing its name to the New York State Barge Canal, reflecting the newer use of the thing.