Photo Exhibit Focuses on Delaware & Raritan Canal

Editor’s Note: The following is a news release issued by the Plainsboro Township Public Library.

An exhibition of historic photographs, “Home on the Canal: Bridge and Lock Tenders’ Houses on the Delaware & Raritan Canal,” will open at the Plainsboro Public Library on Nov. 5, 2011.

A reception, open to the public, will be held on Sunday, Nov. 20, from 2 to 4 p.m.  At 3 p.m. that day, the exhibit’s curators, Barbara Ross and Vicki Chirco, will be on hand for informal gallery talks, and to answer questions. The reception will kick off at 2 p.m. with a showing of the children’s film, “Bridgetender’s Boy”.

The exhibition, sponsored by the D&R Canal State Park and D&R Canal Watch, and hosted by the Plainsboro Public Library, continues through Nov. 29.

Drawing on research by D&R Canal Watch Vice President Barbara Ross and D&R Canal State Park Historian Vicki Chirco, the exhibit includes previously unknown images dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Exhibition design and production is by Jack Koeppel, curator of the “Ribbons of Life” exhibition at the D&R Greenway Land Trust.

Each lock and bridge along the canal had a canal house in which the lock or bridge tender and his family lived. 

While lock tenders and lock houses were regular features on most canals, the D&R also required bridge tenders and bridge houses for its swing bridges. Each house was occupied by a canal company employee whose duty it was to tend the adjacent bridge or lock. These houses were provided as part of the compensation to lock and bridge tenders and their families, about whom little is known.

The job was a family affair in many cases and it was not unusual for a bridge tender to die at an advanced age while still employed or for a widow to take over as bridge tender.  A few bridge tenders lived out the rest of their lives in the houses as renters after the canal closed in 1932. Of the total 15 lock houses and 51 bridge houses identified by recent research, only 19 remain today. Photographs of 49 of the 66 houses are included in the exhibition.

The majority of houses that remain today are owned and administered by the state and are in various states of preservation. Some are successfully managed by nonprofit organizations, a few have recently seen restoration and now await a useful purpose, and others are barely hanging on. The intent of this exhibition is to showcase these canal structures, reveal a little of their architecture and history, and highlight the significance of those that remain.

The D & R Canal Watch is a non-profit organization formed to help promote, enhance, and preserve the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park; for more information go to www.canalwatch.org.  Established in 1974, the D&R Canal State Park offers a broad range of recreational opportunities and is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the natural resources and history of the canal; its website is www.dandrcanal.com/park_index.html.

Barbara Ross is a retired curator at Princeton University Art Museum and is currently preparing a guide to the D&R Canal State Park. Vicki Chirco is a park historian at D&R Canal State Park, where she is responsible for tours and programs, and is editor of the park's quarterly list of events, The Milepost. She is currently preparing a series of podcasts on the canal.

The film, “Bridgetender’s Boy” is an adaptation of the book by Linda Barth. She is also the author of the book, “Images of America: The Delaware and Raritan Canal”.

Plainsboro Public Library is located at 9 Van Doren St., Plainsboro. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.