After leaving Sylvan Beach, we had an easy cruise across 20 mile long Lake Oneida. It felt good to be out in the open waters again. The lake is well marked, and has plenty of depth. It is easy to navigate around all the lake fishermen. Fishing must be good judging by how many people were out fishing, despite being quite windy!
Brewerton is located right on the western shore of Lake Oneida, and we were stopping there to pick up parts for the auto pilot, or so we thought. Upon contacting Brewerton Boat Yard, who is supposedly a dealer for the parts we needed, we found out they couldn't get the parts. We had "ordered" them 2 weeks earlier, but the guy never bothered to tell us he couldn't get the parts.
We tied up on the western most wall of the canal, beyond both of the noisy bridges. We had been there for about half an hour when a state trooper pulled up in the parking lot nearby. He walked over to the canal wall, past FLUKE so he could see her stern, and then wrote something down on a pad of paper he was carrying. We assumed it was our name. There is a sign saying that you can't stay there more than 48 hrs. in one month (I can't imagine why anyone would even want to!), but that didn't seem like it would be a rule enforced by the state police. I was wondering if they had finally managed to track us down for our unlawful entry into Bear Mountain State Park!
The local canal cruise boat, the Mystere, uses the same terminal wall for its operation. Eddie went over to talk to the friendly captain and crew of the boat after they had let off their afternoon passengers and asked where we could buy some fresh produce. They said that there really weren't any places close by, but we could have all of their leftover food from the cruise: sandwich rolls, salad fixings, and half a lemon bundt cake. That was the best part of our stay in Brewerton. The captain did say that there had been some break ins on his cruise boat, and maybe that was why the state trooper had shown up.
Brewerton prospered as a boat building town in the early 1900s after the Erie Canal had been rerouted along its waterfront during the third phase construction. We walked around the area close to the waterfront, and it isn't very scenic, doesn't have any interesting buildings, and no shopping of any significance. Everyone was happy to leave after just one night.
The Erie Canal follows the path of the picturesque Oneida River once it leaves Brewerton. It is not just a straight ditch, but rather gently winds along going past small settlements and rural homesites.
Choices
Mile 160 of the Erie Canal is at Three Rivers, the junction of the Oneida River, Seneca River (leads to the Finger Lakes) and the Oswego River, forming the beginning of the Oswego Canal, our next destination. This natural junction has played an important role in history as a meeting place for Indians and then troops during the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.
In just 3 miles we wound up in Phoenix, one of the friendliest canal towns we have visited. We are docked at Henley Park, located right next to Lock 1 of the Oswego Canal. The area dedicated for the canal right of way is quite large, and the small community has done a top notch job of making it civilian and boater friendly for docking, fishing, and just hanging out. They want to encourage boaters using the Oswego Canal to stop and spend some time infusing money into their struggling economy.
Tied Up
Lock 1 is unusual in that it is right in the town, not on the outskirts like all the other terminal wall areas we have used for docking. The town has fixed up the area with colorful landscaping, picnic tables, covered pavilions, and fishing platforms. There are free 15 Amp electrical hookups and water connections. The Bridge House Brats is a local organization for young kids (preteen) that cater to the boaters by carrying breakfast orders from the local waterfront restaurants, helping with errands and boat chores, and keeping the park clean and orderly.
The dock area stayed full, and many boats locked through while we were tied up. We were docked next to Ladyhawke, a Krogen 42. Like all Krogenites, it was easy to get to know her owners, Lynn and Dick and share our boating experiences and talk about the other Krogenites. We all ended up going to the local Masons weekly fish fry, just a few blocks up the hill from the canal. We pigged out on the greasy, but good, fried fish, clams, shrimp, and fries and topped that off with a nice, high calorie homemade dessert.
The park is the local gathering place for many of its friendly citizens and town functions. They meet for coffee in the morning and are happy to answer boater's questions and try to solve the world's problems. On September 11 the town held a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the Twin Towers tragedy. It was a moving experience to see the huge turnout of citizens and the presence of the fire, police, scout, and veteran groups. There were speeches, a 21 gun salute, youngsters read poems, a flag ceremony, a bugle reverie with taps, and patriotic songs. We were proud to be there with the locals and to be reminded how important it is not to forget that fateful day that so drastically changed our lives forever.
Phoenix Town History
We think it is interesting that a town named Phoenix actually burned to the ground. Since most of the town was rebuilt after the big fire of 1916, the homes don't date back to the 1800s like we have seen in a lot of the other canal towns. In general, the town has a much better up kept look to it in the residential areas; although we think some of the sidewalks must have survived the fire and must be a a lot older than the present homes judging by how bumpy some of them are. There appears to be a real sense of neighbor and community as evidenced by how many people use the waterfront and the large groups of kids and adults we see congregated in their yards and on their porches. Even crime has a community feel to it as evidenced by these signs that are posted on the windows of many storefronts. We all stayed on our best behavior!
When Free Isn't Good
From here we have 7 locks to go through, from our present elevation of 363' down to 245' where we will be at the level of Lake Ontario, all in the span of about 20 miles. If we can get started early enough tomorrow we might make it in one day. The locks close at 5:00 now that it's past Labor Day. Eddie has expressed concern that we want to make sure we aren't here, upriver, when they start permanently closing the locks for the winter!
The ice cream truck is passing by playing “It's A Small World After All”, pretty appropriate for our journey and all the wonderful people we are meeting.
Delightful as usual!
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