Connecticut

Canal History

The 1835 70-mile-long Farmington Canal was the only canal built in Connecticut. It ran from New Haven north to the border, serving people in the western sections of the state. It was later extended north to Northampton, Mass under the name Hampshire and Hampden Canal. The canal was abandoned in 1848.

The 5-mile-long Enfield Canal was built to allow Connecticut river traffic to by-pass the rapids at Enfield. The canal had 4 locks and was in use up to 1976. This canal is also known as the Windsor Locks Canal.

The state had other river navigations that made use of the north/south flowing rivers and Long Island Sound.

CANAL GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS

The Farmington Canal is part of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail and Farmington River Trail, otherwise known as the FCRTTA.

The Enfield Canal is privately owned but the trail along the canal is operated as a state trail.

MAJOR REPOSITORIES AND ARCHIVES

The Connecticut State Library and Archives offers a digital collection and has information on the canal. One of the resources is the 1941 “The Story of the Farmington Canal” written by the Connecticut Writer’s Project.

CANAL INDEX PAGES

The “canal index” project is an on-going project of the ACS to document canal sites. Most of the information is from the 1970-1990 time period, however new pages are being added. Feel free to contribute to this project by submitting a form.

Note: Canals & structures in blue and underlined have index sheets which are accessible by double clicking on the hyperlink.   Canals & structures listed in green below do not yet have index sheets.  They are listed here to make the list more complete.  It is intended to add index sheets for them in the future.

Please note that the unrevised or new pages are the actual pages done in the early 1970s.  Changes have occurred since and there are some inaccuracies in the information on the pages.

Revised 04/29/2022