Every so often, I come across an old image that makes me think, “Where was that?!”
Well, here’s one of them.
Take a look at this 1855 engraving of the Erie Canal. There’s just so much going on — from the packet boats to the stacks of wood by the weighmaster’s office — and even the people, just going about their usual business.
It begs the question. Where was that?
The area today looks nothing like the image, but it is from a corner on North Ferry Street.
Until 1917, it was the last part of the Erie Canal before it headed into the Hudson River.
Just beyond the weighmaster’s office was a basin, which, from above, had a footprint that is still clearly visible with the lock to the Hudson River still buried underground.
As for the canal itself, it was filled in in the mid-1930s, paving the way for this current legacy.
