Circleville Antique Shop.

​​On Saturday morning, the tour bus departed the hotel in Chillicothe promptly at 8:00 and transported the group to Circleville about twenty miles north. The Ohio and Erie Canal crossed the Scioto River at that point by way of a covered aqueduct. The crossing structure is long gone; having burned more than 100 years ago, but the group hiked along the muddy riverbank to view the aqueduct's massive abutments. The next stop was at the 16-foot-diameter culvert that took Foresman’s Hydraulic Canal under the Ohio and Erie Canal in the area called Spunkeytown. The hydraulic was a race that supplied water to the Foresman Brothers' Mill. Nearby is the Pickaway County Canal Park. This park is a preservation success story of the Pickaway County Historical Society. A 2.5-mile channel was re-watered during the Great Depression as a WPA project. The county historical society adopted this canal section in the 1990s and has continually improved the area. The canal park includes the feeder dam and the site of two locks. A walking path follows the watered section of canal south to the Pickaway-Ross Countyline. 

The tour then proceeded to Chillicothe through the towns of Westfall, Yellowbud and Andersonville. After a visit of the 1852 Marfield Warehouse, the site of Dard Hunter’s Arts-and-Crafts workshop, lunch was enjoyed at the Old Canal Smokehouse. Lunch was followed by a walking tour along Water Street in downtown Chillicothe. The walk included a discussion of the Great Fire of April 1, 1852, which leveled much of central Chillicothe and which was the cause for the construction for many of the canal structures still in existence. The group was then transported by bus to the Emmitt Warehouse, the largest canal building in Southern Ohio, which was damaged in a collision with a truck last year. The building has been stabilized and there are ambitious plans for its future.  A second walking tour then followed the canal route to Poland Park, where the Chillicothe Hydraulic Canal joined the Ohio and Erie Canal. Chillicothe has attractive signage outlining the path of the canal through town along the various city streets. After a discussion of the Chillicothe Hydraulic, the group returned to the hotel.

The Saturday Banquet featured canal book author Julie Lambert of the Chillicothe Restoration Foundation, who spoke about the Canal Commerce Connection. Kevin Coleman provided an informative presentation on the Chillicothe Hydraulic. Subsequently, Cathy Nelson presented a status update of the Southern Descent project of which she is one of the leaders. This group recently succeeded in having most the Ohio and Erie Canal locks south of Baltimore listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On Sunday morning, Tom led an informative visit to Chillicothe's Hopewell Cultural National Historic Park.

Christopher Inn & Suites


This house at 346 Yoctangee Boulevard and the one to the north at 350 were present in the canal era. 
​


Emmitt Warehouse.
​

Canawlers set out on the 2019 Spring Tour

spring tour for 2019 • reflections

Jacob Kellhofer rebuilt the storefront on the right, by February    
                1853, less than a year after the fire, to use                       as his residence and grocery store. ​

Old Canal Smoke House​

TOUR COMMITTEE:  Tom Troester, Larry Turner, Mary Starbuck, Kay Sheldon, Ron & Corinne Petrie
 Tour Headquarters: Christopher Inn & Suites, 30 North Plaza Blvd Chillicothe, OH

While in Chillicothe, you may

also want to visit the

Adena Mansion and Gardens,

home of Thomas Worthington,

Ohio’s sixth governor

George Watkins Canal ​Boat

HIGHLIGHTS of the TOUR (subject to change):
• Remains of Circleville Feeder Head Wall & State Dam across the Scioto River
• Marfield & Massie Canal Warehouse with talk on the Great Fire
• Walking tour of canal-era buildings built in 1852-1853 after the Great Fire
• Lunch at the Old Canal Smoke House
• Inside the Emmit Warehouse, largest intact canal building in Southern Ohio
• Lock tender houses at the canal basin and hydraulic
• Three Locks Road and State Dam south of Chillicothe

Marfield Mill

Canal Society of Ohio Inc.

     Chillicothe's Aantebellum Marfield    Warehouse is today a studio and store for Arts-and-Crafts artist Dard Hunter.

​​MAY 31 – JUNE 2, 2019​

   Canal Society Ohio Spring Tour

Emmitt Warehouse, largest intact canal building in Southern Ohio

On the weekend of May 31 to June 2, 2019, 52 canawlers set out on the 2019 Spring Tour from Circleville to Chillicothe. New Trustee Tom Troester made his debut as a canal tour host.

On Friday night the introductory program took place at the Ross County Historical Society, one of the better museums in the state. A new addition to the museum’s collection is a statue of William Allen, a former governor of Ohio. This sculpture was formerly located in the U.S. Capitol as one the two statues that made up Ohio’s contribution to Statuary Hall. Governor Allen's statue was moved here after a better known Ohioan was added to the Capitol’s collection. Tom presented a preview of the following day.​

Circleville 

Chillicothe​​

Full Schedule(subject to change):
Friday, May 31, 2019
6:30 – 7:30 pm – Registration, Ross County Historical Society, 45 W 5th St, Chillicothe
7:30 – 8:30 pm – Slide Show and Tour Preview by Tom Troester

Saturday, June 1, 2019
7:40-7:55 am – Late sign-in (pre-registration required) in hotel lobby
7:45 am – Begin boarding bus for departure at 8:00 am
8:00 am - 4:00 pm – Exploration by bus with several stops. 
6:30 pm – Banquet at the Tour Headquarters Hotel with cash bar
7:10 pm – Welcome and speaker Julie Lambert on the Canal Commerce Connection
8:15 pm – Adjourn 

OPTIONAL – Sunday, June 2, 2019
9:15 am – Carpool to Hopewell Culture National Historic Park Museum at
16062 State Route 104 in Chillicothe OH (about 4 miles from tour HQ hotel)

CIRCLEVILLE TO CHILLICOTHE

See Actual Tour Information at Bottom of Page.