Erie Canal Lock 52 Complex

Beside the New York State Thruway at the western edge of Port Byron, this 3.4-acre complex preserves a working slice of the Enlarged Erie Canal. Its centerpiece is Lock 52, built about 1849-53 of limestone ashlar with two chambers divided by a center pier. The lock was later improved with a winching system, a lengthened south chamber and deeper channels. Nearby are a dewatered stone-lined canal prism built in 1854-58 and a stone culvert. On the north side stand the Erie House, a frame building of about 1894 that served as a saloon, hotel and residence, and a late nineteenth-century blacksmith shop and mule barn. The interior of the Erie House keeps much of its original wood paneling and plan. The group is valued for showing both the engineering of the canal and the businesses that served boat traffic until the canal was abandoned here in 1917. Potential archaeological remains of the original Erie Canal are also included.