Passengers learn why the long-awaited canal meant progress to the people who settled in the Great Black Swamp. The water route was a conduit for commerce and the end of isolation in a region known for the most inhospitable wilderness in the United States. Cramped quarters were a small price to pay for the relative luxury of swift, smooth canal travel in the 1800s. People shared space with cargo, including animals and barrels of whiskey destined for rowdy canal towns like Providence. The original lock is made of massive, 1,200-pound blocks of limestone quarried on Ohio's Marblehead Peninsula.
Wooden gates lock in the boat as valves let water in or out to raise or lower the vessel.
Although each pair of gates weighs nearly two tons, they are so well balanced that one person can move them. The Isaac Ludwig Mill, built in 1846, is a restored saw and grist mill complete with working antique machinery. It is one of three remaining buildings from Providence, which was twice stricken with cholera epidemics and later burned to the ground. On Sunday afternoons, volunteers demonstrate heritage crafts such as blacksmithing, coopering and tinsmithing.