Brookblogging
By adamg - Tue, 05/06/2008 - 10:27am.
Mother Brook is a blog about the country's oldest canal, which connects the Charles and Neponset rivers via Dedham and Hyde Park.
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A rival?
As with many of the "oldest" arguments out there (Dedham's Fairbanks House being in a pitched battle with a similar structure in Beverly comes to mind), there's this little canal between North Carolina and Virginia. While watching a show about the canal this past weekend, one of the supporters said it was the "oldest hand-dug canal" in the US (or North America, perhaps).
Immediately, I thought of Mother Brook, and its claim of being the oldest "Manmade Waterway" in America, connecting the Mighty Charles with the Mighty Neponset.
So, my question is, does anyone have any information as to the veracity of these claims?
Oldest Industrial Canal
Perhaps a note of clarity. Mother Brook is the earliest INDUSTRIAL canal in the US. It was created exclusively for mill power. There are some earlier hand dug waterways for agricultural purposes. The term Canal is typically reserved for waterways created for industrial purposes, which includes transportation. Agricultural waterways are typically termed part of an irrigation system. The sometimes but not always accurate Wikipedia talks a bit about canals in general and Mother Brook in particular:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal
Gary
commute
I pass part of it every day on the way to work. Always wondered why it was called that.