(Lisa Saunders pointing to a print of the Seneca Chief at the Baldwinsville Library.)
October 3, 2025
Some of you may remember that I tried to become thin and famous to get public attention for congenital CMV by taking an epic sea voyage with a blind sailor in the winter of 2012 (told in book, Mystic Seafarer's Trail). Unfortunately, I abandoned ship after the first day! But now, I have a second chance at bravery on another epic boating voyage.
In celebration of the Erie Canal's bicentennial, I've been asked to be a short-term passenger on the replica of the historic Seneca Chief when it arrives in Baldwinsville (Fri, Oct 3) on her way from Buffalo on the active Erie Canal heading east to the Hudson River to New York City (Seneca Chief starts 33-day voyage down the Erie Canal, Spectrum News).
I was probably asked to be a passenger because I'm the author of Walking the Erie Canalway Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders, Bathrooms and Beer to Stop CMV; an "end-to-ender" (I walked the 360-mile Trail between Buffalo and Albany); a Canalway Challenge Ambassador; and the descendant of Jacob Leach, the Erie Canal engineer on the planning committee for the famous boat parade, known as the "wedding of the waters," launched the first Erie Canal in 1825.
Jacob Leach (1777-1853), my great-great-great-great grandfather, was a shop keeper and distilled whisky. Jacob helped celebrate the opening of the original Erie Canal by welcoming Governor DeWitt Clinton, a passenger on the Seneca Chief, to Lyons. The boat parade “occurred Oct.26, 1825, at the time the two ends of the canal were united in Lockport, and the 'waters were let over the mountain range.' The unique feature of the celebration throughout the state was the transmission of the exact time by firing of cannon – 24 and 32 pounders – distributed along the canal eight miles apart, a total distance 365 miles from Lake Erie to the Hudson River." In Lyons, the "32 pounder, one of the cannon in the chain across the state, was stationed on ‘an eminence west of the village overlooking the canal.’ At sunrise a salute of eight guns was fired from this piece. After the gun had passed along this ‘grand salute from the east,’ a procession was formed which marched through the principal streets of the village to the ‘new brick meeting house’ where the exercises of the day were performed consisting of prayer, psalm singing and oration by G. H. Chapin" (“’Grip's’ Historical Souvenir of Lyons," 1904).
Regarding the cannon firing: "From what I’ve read, it took 80 minutes from the first cannon fire in Buffalo to the last in NYC, and then the cannon fire repeated back another 80 minutes so by the end everyone within ear-shot along the Canal knew it was open end-to-end!" Lisa Wiles, Director, Liz and Dave Beebe Camillus Erie Canal Park.
If I have a successful voyage on the Seneca Chief, then perhaps I can erase my shame of abandoning ship on when I tried to sail with my friends in 2012. Maybe I can live up to my Mayflower ancestor, Richard Warren, who not only didn't abandoned ship to the new world, but it was said of him after he died (in 1628) that he was a "useful instrument; and during his life bore a deep share in the difficulties and troubles of the first settlement of the plantation of New-Plymouth" (American Ancestors).
(Lisa Saunders in front of Mayflower II in Plymouth, Mass.)
October 4, 2025
I didn't abandon ship yesterday! And there were witnesses -- including "Sal" the stuffed mule who accompanied me when I walked the Erie Canalway Trail!
Photo caption: (l to r): Lisa Wiles, Director, Liz and Dave Beebe Camillus Erie Canal Park; Lisa Saunders, Erie Canalway Challenge Ambassador (holding Sal, the mule); and Jacquie Owens, Communications Librarian, Baldwinsville Public Library, aboard the Seneca Chief on the Seneca River in Baldwinsville on October 4, 2025.
Sal was offered a bunk by one of the crew, but she declined.
Sal got a break and didn't need to tow the Seneca Chief. Instead, she is being towed by the C.L. Churchill, a wooden tugboat.
Jim was there to meet me at Papermill Island, Baldwinsville, where we docked.
My upcoming talks on Walking the Erie Canalway Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders, Bathrooms and Beer to Stop CMV (e-book and paperback) include:
- Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 6:30pm, Beauchamp Historical Club, Van Buren Town Hall (Baldwinsville, NY)
- Saturday. June 20, 2026, 1-3pm, Clay Historical Association.
About the talk: Hear the story of Canalway Challenge Ambassador, Lisa Saunders, who walked the entire Erie Canalway Trail, from Buffalo to Albany, to bring attention to a worthy cause (congenital CMV), and to solve the mystery of her great aunt's tragic death.
About the talk: Hear the story of Canalway Challenge Ambassador, Lisa Saunders, who walked the entire Erie Canalway Trail, from Buffalo to Albany, to bring attention to a worthy cause (congenital CMV), and to solve the mystery of her great aunt's tragic death.
About Lisa Saunders: Author
Lisa Saunders of Baldwinsville is a Canalway Challenge Ambassador, an "end-to-ender," having walked 360 miles between Buffalo and Albany; a congenital CMV consultant who works to prevent and treat the disease through legislation, and is an interviewer for PAC-B TV. In addition "Walking the Erie Canalway Trail," she is the author of several books, such as "Mystic Seafarer's Trail," which features her defeat as a sailor when she abandoned ship.
