Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct (11/8/2023)

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

This time on our way to Buffalo, we stopped in Lackawaxen, PA.

Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct (1847-1849), now
Roebling Bridge, was one of four suspension
aqueducts on the Delaware & Hudson Canal, and is the
oldest existing wire/cable suspension bridge in the country

The horizontal framework of the aqueduct that was
suspended by a pair of cables threaded through the
upside-down 'U' brackets on the lower base timber

Previously canal traffic crossing the Delaware River
interfered with log rafts floating down the river,
thus John A Roebling suggested routing the canal
over the Delaware on an aqueduct

The Delaware & Hudson Canal (1928) was built as a means of transportation connecting the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania with markets on the Hudson River. Yet since the 1700s, timber from the Delaware valley had been floated down the river to shipyards and industries in Trenton and Philadelphia. The rope ferry used by the canal barges to cross the Delaware River created a bottleneck and resulted in costly collisions.

The aqueduct was suspended using a pair of cables
that were draped over three mid-river abutments and
anchored over an abutment at each end

The towpath portion of the aqueduct (KSS)

The canal portion of the aqueduct (KSS)

The Upper Delaware River at Lackawaxen

The parallel cables over a mid-river abutment

Three pigeons (KSS)

Looking down on the remnants of the
Delaware & Hudson Canal and towpath on the NY side

On both sides of the river, locks were built to raise the canal to the height of the aqueduct.

When the canal closed in 1898, the water was drained and the
aqueduct was used as private bridge for wagons, and later cars;
this tollbooth was built in 1900

Looking across the aqueduct/bridge from the NY side (KSS)

A restored bridge pier acted as an ice breaker (KSS)

The three piers/ice breakers

Looking across the aqueduct/bridge from the PA side

Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct/Roebling Bridge

Zane Grey Museum in the c 1890 farmhouse built by
Grey's brother and purchased by Zane in 1914, then
enlarged by Zane and his wife "Dolly" in the next two years

Unfortunately the museum was closed for the season. Zane Grey was initially a dentist, but became a fulltime author known for adventure novels and stories, mostly associated with the West, the American frontier of his time.

St Mark's Lutheran Church, may have originated
as a union building on land donated by the
Delaware & Hudson Canal Company

Although Zane Grey moved to California, his resting place
is in Union Cemetery in Lackawaxen, PA

Burial place of the Unknown Soldier who died
in the Battle of Minisink (just across the Delaware River)
during the American Revolution

Roebling Inn (1870 as the home and office of the
superintendent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company)
is now a Bed & Breakfast Inn

Roebling Inn common area

Our first floor bedroom

Cut-the-cord Roku TV

Claw-foot tub/shower

Separate WC

Sitting room with gas fireplace

Breakfast room

Lots of deer in the backyard!

We had dinner at the BVH Sports Bar
across the river in Barryville, NY;
this was posted on their door

Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct, Zane Grey Museum and Roebling Inn are all featured as part of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway with its proximity to the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.

NY-97 is the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway

Next: Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology.