BURRITTS RAPIDS, ONTARIO TO MERRICKVILLE, ONTARIO

Saturday, July 4th, 2015

Day 334

Miles Traveled: 7

Total Miles Traveled: 4934

  The first task of the day was locking through Rideau Canal Lock 17.  We spent the night on the blue line, so we were in line for the first lockage at 9:00 am.  The canal just above this lock was very narrow.  We were following "Bama Dream" and "Gud-Nuff", who had just left from above the lock.

section of Rideau Canal

  We only traveled seven miles today, but, the journey to Merrickville, Ontario took about four hours due to the other six locks was had to go through.  In the last three locks, we had five boats in the chamber.  One boat was rafted off between us and another boat.  We were told the lockmasters do this often if it is busy and there is room.

Tight fit - five boats in the lock - Seahorse rail on left, rafted boat in middle, bow of other boat on the right

 As soon as we got tied up in Merrickville, we walked two blocks to the little local grocery store to get some much needed provisions (like milk, eggs, lettuce, fruit, etc).  We found most of what we needed.

  Afterwards, we explored the small town.  On the lock grounds was an old restored blockhouse.  The blockhouses were built to defend the canal.  This particular blockhouse, built in 1833, was the largest of the four on the Rideau Canal system.  It has typical construction of a blockhouse with the basement and ground floor being stone and the upper story wood covered with tin roof.  The building was surrounded by a ditch.  The stone walls were about 4 feet thick in order to withstand small cannon fire.  The upper level overhang allowed for machicolated defense (holes cut in the overhang allowed for downward fire on the enemy).  Loopholes were cut which were long and narrow but tapered within to allow for a greater angle of fire.  The tin roof helped to withstand torching.  Only used by the military briefly, it then became the lockmasters home.  Now it is used as a museum to show the history of the blockhouse and the town of Merrickville.

Merrickville Blockhouse

  Right next to the lock canal is the spring flooding channel.  It looked like some of the beautiful creeks we had seen in the Smokey Mountains.

Merrickville flooding channel

  The town of Merrickville was already thriving prior to the construction of the Rideau Canal.  William Merrick, Sr. arrived in the area in 1793.  He identified the waterpower potential of the site and constructed a dam to power a grist mill, sawmill, and carding mill.  A community grew around the mill site and took the name Merrick's Mills.  In 1860, the area was incorporated and the name was changed to Merrickville.  The ruins of an old woolen mill still exist next to the canal.

ruins of woolen mill

  We went to dinner at the Main Street Cafe with Jesse & Linda on "Bama Dream" and Ralph & Janet on "Gud-Nuff".  It was a beautiful evening and we dined outdoors.  The waitress played "America the Beautiful" for us after all the outdoor patrons had left.  We all stood and sang and gave thanks to those who serve and have served for our freedom.

Ralph, Janet, Linda, Jesse, Angie, and Dan
"Happy Fourth of July"