Hiking the Erie Canal Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders, Bathrooms and Beer - and an End to CMV

My new travel video, "Hiking the Erie Canalway Trail, Vote on 7 Wonders..."   provides a brief history of the historic and active Erie Canals, what it's like for baby boomers to walk, rather than bike, the entire Erie Canalway Trail, and why and how we are persevering. (As of 3/13/24, we have walked more than 71% of the Trail  - 254 / 360 miles). 

Watch video on PAC-B TV or YouTube: https://youtu.be/kbLp-lBz96U?si=D6pt_wEn77JC4aCg

I would love to get the public involved in voting or commenting on which of the 11 Canalway "wonders" featured in the video should make the final list, "The 7 Wonders of the Erie Canalway Trail" (vote/comment in the YouTube link). Of course, folks may have more contenders to suggest before I finish my travel memoir on our adventure, which I plan to do, before the end of the Erie Canal's “bicentennial period” of 2017-2025.

If you would like me to present to your group, please let me know.

Below my signature is more information about the video (including the 11 "Wonders" found so far), helpful "Towpath Traveler" guides, images, and some media coverage about our quest. 

Sincerely,

Lisa Saunders
AuthorLisaSaunders.com
LisaSaunders42@gmail.com
Amazon author page

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hiking the Erie Canalway Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders, Bathrooms and Beer

Challenges faced by baby boomers, how we're overcoming them - and why

We're over halfway there!

by Lisa Saunders

Baldwinsville, New York--Although most people bicycle across the State of New York on the 360-mile Erie Canalway Trail, my husband Jim and I are walking it. Since commencing our quest in 2020, we have walked over halfway across the state (254 miles so far) by tackling new sections of the Trail about twice a month - in all kinds of weather. We've been chased by swarms of mosquitoes, biting flies and lightning. We've endured torrential downpours, blinding snow, chafing underwear, aching feet and swollen knees. We’ve faced snakes, floods, ice, and a smelly, dead opossum!

My video, "Hiking the Erie Canalway Trail, Vote on 7 Wonders, Stop CMV", now airing on Baldwinsville's Public Access Channel, features the history of the Erie Canal and challenges faced by baby boomers seeking to become "end-to-enders" - those who walk, bike or kayak the entire Erie Canal. It includes my investigation into how (and why) my great-great Aunt Rebecca drove into the Canal over 80 years ago, ending her life.

The video showcases the reasons the Canal was considered the "8th Wonder of the World" and its ability to unite a nation. Congress established the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor in 2000 because the canal “facilitated the movement of ideas …like the abolition of slavery and…women's rights…across upstate New York to the rest of the country…” (Congressional Bills 106th Congress). Jim and I are determined to become "end-to-enders" because we have a "women's rights" issue to move from "upstate New York to the rest of the country" - cytomegalovirus (CMV). We are leaving #Stop CMV rocks along the Trail to comply with Congress' recommendation that "more effort be taken to counsel women of childbearing age of the effect this virus can have on their children" (S.Res.215 — 112th Congress, 2011). 

Our daughter Elizabeth was born with brain damage in 1989 because I contracted CMV just prior to or during my pregnancy. I might have prevented that had I known to lessen my "risk of getting CMV by reducing contact with saliva and urine from babies and young children...not sharing food, utensils, or cups with a child" (CDC.gov/CMV). In 2022, “Elizabeth’s Law,” named in memory of our daughter, was passed in New York. It requires the provision of CMV educational materials to child care providers and pregnant women. But there is still a lot to do to raise awareness, so we keep putting one foot in front of the other. 

The 200th Anniversary of the Erie Canal is being celebrated during the “bicentennial period” of 2017-2025. If we push harder, maybe we can finish our 360-mile Challenge in 2025  - exactly 200 years after the Canal was completed. As Jim and I continue our journey across New York, we're collecting contenders for "The 7 Wonders of the Erie Canalway Trail," which will be included in my upcoming book. 

You are welcome to send in your vote on which of the following "Wonder" contenders discussed in the video, "Hiking the Erie Canalway Trail, Vote on 7 Wonders, Stop CMV",  should be declared "The 7 Wonders" (do so in YouTube comments). If you have another site that should be considered, please let me know! 

1. “Flight of Five”: The c. 1862 “staircase” locks are seen alongside two deep, consecutive modern locks (34 & 35), Lockport.
2. 1850 Syracuse Weighlock Building, last remaining structure of its kind (houses Erie Canal Museum).
3. Lift Lock 17, "One of the highest lift locks in the world," Little Falls.
4. Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct, only restored, navigable aqueduct in New York, Camillus.
5. Lift Bridges (there are 15, but the Fairport Lift Bridge, an irregular decagon, is the contender).
6. Movable Dams (there are eight - not sure which one should be a contender).
7. Richmond Aqueduct, Montezuma Heritage Park (though on the active Erie Canal, a slight detour is needed from the Canalway Trail to see it). 
8. Drydocks (the active Lyons Drydock or the historic dry dock complex in Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum).
9. "Upside-Down Bridge", Lockport. A railroad bridge with the truss upside-down.
   
10. Tiny Locktender’s House, Jordan.
11. Mural Mania: "longest mural trail in the world of over 85 miles along the Erie Canal.”

Email me at LisaSaunders42@gmail.com with "Wonder" preferences or to present to your group. For more information about my work: www.authorlisasaunders.com. 

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Photo caption: Jim and Lisa Saunders pushing Mary Ann Avazian on the Erie Canalway Trail in DeWitt for a photo shoot for Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Photographs by Call of the Loon Productions.

Photo caption: Jim and Lisa Saunders at Camillus Erie Canal Park. Photo by Jim Saunders. 

Media coverage of the purpose of our walk

1. Spectrum News: "Couple pushes for law in memory of their daughter" (Houghtaling, J., Jul. 01, 2021).
   

2. Finger Lakes Times: "MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Couple brings awareness to threat to infant health: CMV", (Buchiere, S.,June 4, 2021).
   

3. Syracuse Woman magazine, "Fighting CMV One Step at a Time (p.28)", (Vallelunga, E., May 2021) 
   

4. The Citizen, "Challenge for Change: Walking across NY to raise awareness of CMV", (Wilcox, D., Mar 31, 2021)
   

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Helpful “Towpath Traveler” Guides 

Maps: online and paper (helpful for parking, restaurants, lodging, historical sites, etc.):

• Empire State Trail (provides descriptions of the Trail by sections, parking addresses, etc.).

• Cycle the Erie Canal (interactive online map and/or print map ordering info).

• NYS Canalway Water Trail Guidebook and Map Set (detailed maps - order or download).

• The Erie Canal Bike Trail of New York (info on towns and lodging along the way).

• Erie Canal Mapping Project (shows all three versions of the Canal).

• Google Maps shows the Trail.

• New York State Canal Corporation (good overall info for boaters and walkers/cyclists such as camping along the Canalway Trail).

Folks on these Facebook sites have been helpful:

• Canalway Challenge

• Historic Erie Canal

• NY Erie Canal (Empire) Trail Enthusiasts

• Cycling the Erie Canal

About CMV:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects in the United States. About 1 out of 200 babies is born with congenital CMV. One out of 5 babies with congenital CMV will have symptoms or long-term health problems, such as hearing loss” (cdc.gov/cmv). “You may be able to lessen your risk of getting CMV by reducing contact with saliva and urine from babies and young children...You can avoid getting a child’s saliva in your mouth by, for example, not sharing food, utensils, or cups with a child” (CMV Fact Sheet for Pregnant Women and Parents or CMV pdf).

National CMV Foundation at:https://www.nationalcmv.org/

Other: 

• Access Lisa's slides: “Hiking the Erie Canalway Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders. Benches, Bathrooms and Beer on Way to Stop CMV.”
• One-minute video: “Erie Canal Trail: Stop Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Birth Defects. Pass "Elizabeth's Law"

Little Falls: Erie Canalway Trail, April 2023

Little Falls: Erie Canalway Trail, April 2023

Amsterdam

Lisa Saunders

HELP ME SOLVE AUNT REBECCA'S DEATH MYSTERY--Suicide or Murder?

Aunt Rebecca. Probably taken in the 1930s.

An Erie Canal Mystery: Aunt Rebecca's Death: Suicide, Murder or Accident?

Rebecca C. Whyland of Hamlin (Brockport) went missing on a Sat., Nov. 8, 1941 (just weeks prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor) and was found in her coup the following Wednesday - underwater in the Erie Canal

As yet, I have not seen the 80-year-old coroner's report on my Aunt Rebecca. I woud like to know why the coroner determined she died "by suicide while temporarily insane." How did he know she wasn't murdered and driven into the canal or that she wasn't the victim of a hit-and-run? 

Aunt Rebecca  went missing on a Saturday, Nov. 8, 1941, and was found underwater the following Wednesday. My local librarian helped me find clues, like the Brockport newspaper article headlined, HAMLIN LADY FOUND DEAD IN SUNKEN AUTOMOBILE, stating: "A 37-year-old Hamlin woman, Mrs. Rebecca Whyland, who had been missing from her home in the Chase Road since Saturday was found dead in her automobile, which was located at the bottom of the Barge canal, last night, between the Lake road and Sweden-Walker road, about two miles east of this village. Lester Whyland, her husband, reported to Sheriff Skinner that she left home, Saturday, on a shopping trip and when she did not return, that evening, he reported her missing. Following a "hunch," Mrs. Whyland's brother-in-law, Ray Conley of Hilton searched along the Canal bank until he noticed tire marks going into the Canal. The sheriffs office was notified and for an hour a boat hook was used along the bottom of the canal. Finally, it struck the car in the center and a tow truck was called. When the car was raised, Mrs.  Whyland's  body was found jammed under the steering wheel and the top of the automobile was crashed as  though hit by passing barges. The body was taken to the morgue where an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. In an effort to clear up the case, Sheriff Skinner stated that he would continue his conversations with Mr. Whyland and Mr. Conley today.."

A week later, on November 20, the newspaper reported the following: Coroner Issues Suicide Verdict Funeral Held Saturday Coroner Davide H. Atwater, after a thorough investigation, listed Friday, the death of Mrs. Rebecca Whyland of Chase road, Hamlin, who was found Nov. 12 in her car at the bottom of the Barge canal, as "by suicide while temporarily insane." Besides her husband, Lester, Mrs. Whyland is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Chamberlain; two sisters, Mrs. Wilbur VanDorn and Mrs Harold Brown; two brothers, Arthur of Rochester and Irving of Hilton;  and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services were conducted from her late home, Saturday, afternoon at 2 o'clock. Internment took place in Parma Union cemetery.

Wouldn't a barge have reported that they hit an object in the canal? My local librarian told me the stretch of road she was reported to have driven in from: “Lake Road is called Main Street in Brockport and Sweden-Walker Road runs parallel to Main (Lake) Street. The road that follows the canal is called East Canal Road. I've driven it and it's very picturesque with no guardrails or anything to stop a car from running off the road. That stretch is about four miles,” said Jacquie Owens, Adult Services Librarian, Baldwinsville Public Library. Owens questions Rebecca's suicide verdict along with me and hopes that as a family member, I may be able to get a copy of the coroner's report (see note below). She says, "In the back of my mind, I did a double take when I saw the suicide by reason of temporary insanity. What was the reason for the insanity? Was there any evidence that she was acting strangely or did the coroner just assume she was because it looked like a suicide? Also, they said that the car was crushed as if a barge passed over it. Didn't the barge, if there was one, think to report the scraping, especially since it damaged the boat? And did a barge even pass by between the time she went in and the time she was pulled out?"

I uploaded the above articles and my photograph of  her on Find a Grave at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153574329/rebecca-c.-whyland  

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Notes: Monroe County's Office of the Medical Examiner offers the ability to get coroner's reports if you are entitled to it. The hours for record information requests are Monday through Friday (10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.). Autopsy Authorization Request: include a $40 check or money order payable to Monroe County, and send to Office of Medical Examiner, 740 East Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY  14623" https://www.monroecounty.gov/health-medicalexaminer#Archival. The New York State Archives may be an easier way to get a hold of the report.

My husband Jim wants to know if she was wearing the "yellow diamond" ring when her body was found. According to my cousin Laura, her family feared there may have been a curse around it as two of our family members who owned it died at age 37. Prior to Aunt Rebecca, my great-grandmother Alice Lee owned the ring and died from leukemia at 37. Prior to her, my uncle Frank owned it and hung himself (he was in his 20s--but I think he shot himself). According to Cousin Laura, Uncle Frank "bought it and proposed to a lady who turned him down. He was so distraught and depressed that he hung himself in the barn." (My Cousin Laura's family sold the "yellow diamond" ring in a Tiffany setting and learned that it was actually a yellow sapphire.)

I'm also looking into the 1826 case of the missing, probably murdered Freemason William Morgan who was trying to publish a book exposing Freemasonry's secrets. The "Morgan Murder" caused division in my 19th century family who lived along the Canal per a letter I recently read from my 4th great-grandfather, banker William Sisson of Lyons (a Freemason), to his brother-in-law, my distant uncle, Justus Gale, of Rochester, who supported the Anti-Mason movement.

If you have any Erie Canal stories or tips on how to solve old "Cold Cases", please let me know as I'm currently working on a new book, “Walking the Erie Canal Trail: Secrets  of the 8th Wonder of the World, CMV and Pandemic Pizza".