Old Canal Way Trail

So Much Canal
Old Canal Way Trail, Simsbury
November 2024

99,999 times out of 100,000 times you mention the Canal Trail in Simsbury, people will assume you’re talking about the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. And, frankly, 99,999 times out of 100,000 times people mention the Canal Trail in Simsbury, they are talking about the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

Welp, today is your lucky day! For this is that one out of a 100,000 time someone talking about the Canal Trail in Simsbury isn’t talking about the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail! I’ll give you a second to collect yourself.

Look, the multiuse path is great. But it doesn’t always – or even often – follow the actual canal route in Simsbury. To find the last bit of existing canal in town, you must get to the Canal Place Apartment Complex and drive up Old Canal Way, cross over the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, continue driving up until you see a small little hiker’s lot and a trail leading straight into the woods. I mean, with all that nomenclature, it’s not like Simsbury is hiding their piece of actual canal.

The Farmington Canal is one of the most interesting historical features in central Connecticut. Conceived to provide commercial access to the interior of the state, the canal was an engineering feat and a monumental construction project involving the people of all the communities it passed through. In operation only from 1827 to 1848, it ran from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts and carried both freight and passengers. Replaced by the New Haven-Northampton railroad, the canal fell quickly into disrepair and very little remains to be viewed today. It was a colossal business failure.

Access path

From the parking area, the access trail brings you… to the middle of the Canal Trail. I went left first, which ultimately took me out to the same road I parked on, just further along. This section of canal is very well preserved – and I have no idea why it is so.

The canal was typically 36 feet wide at the top, 20 feet wide at the bottom and 4 feet deep. Canal boats were pulled by horses which walked alongside on towpaths. That towpath is very well maintained here and it’s just so random here in the woods in the middle of an apartment complex.

Once I had backtracked to where I joined the trail, I kept going. After a few minutes, the canal disappears and streams began crossing the path which quickly became less of a towpath and more of a woodland trail. It’s still pretty well cleared, so I just kept going, trying to get my money’s worth from this straight-line out-and-back out-and-back trail. It ends at Latimer Lane in front of the elementary school there.

I want to assume the reason the trail extends out to the school is because the curriculum includes walks to the canal for “hands-on” lessons. History, industry, geography, business, geology… you can make a lot out of failed canal discussions.