The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor invites you to take to the D&L Trail at Hugh Moore Park in Easton for a Scavenger Hunt to learn about the history of Hugh Moore Park and the importance of the canal system.

To get started, you'll want to locate at the Lehigh Canal Marker, the starting point for this fun for all ages, outdoor family activity. You'll find it along the walking path intersection in front of the playground and on the side of the Welcome Center. Write down one piece of historical information from the sign. Then set out to accomplish all 15 tasks. Good luck!

  1. Welcome Center. Look at the old photos on the interpretive panels along the side of the welcome center showing canal boats using the Canal in the 1800s. Now look at the Josiah White II passenger boat. Can you name three differences?
  2. Walk along the towpath in the direction of the two-story brick building containing the National Canal Museum. What is the name of the building? What year was it built?
  3. Continue in the same direction along the towpath. Approximately 100 yards will bring you to the Weir gate, or Waste gate, sometimes even a waste weir. Its purpose is to release water from the canal to help control the amount of water in the canal. Can you think of an example of when or why we might open this gate?
  4. Stable. What kind of animals live here? (Don’t feed them, please. Be mindful of your fingers if you decide to pet them). Read the panels on the side of the stable. What was the youngest age a boy could be to become a Canal Boat Captain?
  5. To the left of the Locktender’s house is a lock. The sign on the house tells you what kind of lock and its number. List them.
  6. Look at the different sizes of the lock doors, larger on the river side, smaller on the canal side. Why do you think this is? Hint: it’s in the name.
  7. How many “dog houses" are at this lock? Look closely.
  8. Water and the canal boats used to run through here from the river. It is now blocked off and the much taller structure to the left of the lock is now the Feeder Gate that allows the ability to bring water from where into the canal?
  9. You can walk up on top of the feeder gate. Don’t go too far. There is poison ivy at the far end. What do you see on the river side of the feeder gate, and what causes this?
  10. Coming down off the feeder gate, you'll continue around to the left on what would have been the tow path. Just over a small wooden bridge, there are three interpretive panels. Read the one titled “Is it Chain or Change?” What year was the bridge built? And how do boats cross the river before it was built?
  11. Walk back toward the Locktender’s house. Look back upriver. Can you spot the ruins of the Bridge still standing in the center of the river between the Lehigh River’s southern shore and “Smith Island”? Looking at the island, would you believe that it once held a very popular amusement park? From 1894 to 1919 Island Park was a beautiful getaway for Easton families. For $.10, you could get a trolley ride to the island for amusement rides, entertainment, and food.
  12. There is a sign about the dangers of the dam. What three things are you not allowed to do here?
  13. Locktender’s House: This is the third house for this lock. The first was on the other side of where the in gate/ flood gate now stands. The second burned in a fire. This house was the last one built on the Navigation and possibly is the last Locktender’s house built in the Nation. What year was THIS house built? Locktender’s families frequently had “side businesses” to make extra money. This lock was known as a laundry lock. Can you determine why?
  14. Walk back to the National Canal Museum using the road that leaves the towpath just past the mule barn. As you cross over the wooden bridge crossing the stream, notice the water running from the waste weir. How many pipes are coming from the weir? Where does this water go?
  15. Just before arriving back at the National Canal Museum, take a look at the butterfly garden and the bench next to it. Who built the bench and why?

 

Congratulations! You completed the hike and the Scavenger Hunt at Hugh Moore Park! Submit your answers to visitorservice@delawareandlehigh.org to find out how you did! Or visit here for more Museum at Home activities with the Kids on the Canal.