The Morris Canal Working Group learned about several trail projects underway and efforts to create a hiker’s guide to existing segments, at its May 22 meeting.
Steve Krinsky presented “A Hiker’s Guide to the Morris Canal Greenway,” a project he is working on with three others to update information about trail segments listed on the
All Trails hiking app.
The group decided to focus on All Trails, because it is well suited for hikers and offers convenient mechanisms for input and feedback, “which we used with much success,” Krinsky said. So far, they’ve hiked and mapped 10 Morris Canal Greenway sections, including portions as far east as Jersey City and Newark and as far west as Hackettstown.
Krinsky said the group may continue to make updates as the trails change and new information becomes available. Up next, he said, is mapping portions of the greenway in Warren, Sussex and Passaic counties.
Greenway Additions
Joe Macasek and Tim Roth, of the Canal Society of New Jersey, provided updates on several projects underway.
Macasek said work on the Lock 2 East restoration is expected to be completed by June, when the mechanism to operate the lock is completed.
Many projects are in the works, and Macasek noted it can take years to complete everything from planning to financing to actual construction. “Sometimes it’s very frustrating, but you gotta stick with it."
One such long-planned project is stabilizing the railroad trestle in Boonton so it can be transformed into a pedestrian walkway. The trestle is a spur trail that gives additional access to the main trail, Macasek said. Work is also being done to restore the Arch Bridge in Boonton.
In Morris County, the Canal Society recently began working with the Town of Dover, a new greenway partner, that is using a grant from T-Mobile to create the Princeton Avenue Greenway Trail, a short segment parallel to Princeton Avenue. The Canal Society provided signage and financing to complete the trail and the township is looking to do some more, Macasek said. The town is also planning to hold an event in June to celebrate new interpretive signage in JFK Park, which explains the area was once a canal basin.
Also in Morris County, Mount Olive helped to acquire a narrow landlocked property where Inclined Plane 3 was located and is working on a grant to acquire the adjacent Carson Roberts property, which would provide access to the inclined plane, Macasek said. A nearby water-filled canal section with public access easement contains the ruins of a lock tenders house, a semi-restored landmark along the trail.
The Belleville Greenway Trail is a short but interesting piece of the canal that will connect with the existing greenway in Bloomfield and the proposed greenway in Newark. Another Canal Society project will provide an interpretive panel and five wayfinding signs to connect those segments.
The Canal Society also funded an interpretive panel at Lock 15 East at the corner of Lock and New streets in Newark. “We see this as a first effort in Newark, and now with the city looking to create a bikeway, we hope to do more of this,” Macasek said.
Warren County is looking to acquire land within an area called Rockport, a canal village in Mansfield Township, Roth said. There is a trail on a nearby state game farm property that goes by an old canal basin. The area is overgrown, but once cleared, there would be trails on either side of the village.
Roth said he hopes to report back at the fall Working Group meeting that the Warren Heritage Museum at Bread Lock Park is reopened. Tours have been suspended due to mold remediation, but the park is open daily from sunrise to sunset. The road bridge was washed out by storms last summer, however, pedestrian traffic is allowed via Thomas Carling Drive.
A complete recording of the May 22 Morris Canal Working Group meeting can be accessed at MorrisCanalGreenway.org