On the Fourth of July in 1825, workers in Granby broke ground on a canal that would stretch from the port city of New Haven more than 80 miles to Northampton, Mass.
Connecticut’s governor, it was reported, turned over the first shovelful of dirt. But the project was more or less a bust. Its backers were never able to turn a profit, and after some 20 years of operation, commercial use of the canal ceased, with the waterway replaced with a rail line.
The rail cars shipping freight north are also long gone, but after decades of construction and work by advocates, most of the route once plied by mules and horses towing canal barges and later locomotives is now paved asphalt used daily by cyclists, joggers, rollerbladers and other outdoors enthusiasts.
