Farmington Canal State Park Trail is a Connecticut state park forming a portion of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in the towns of Cheshire and Hamden. The developed section of the trail within state park boundaries runs 5.5mi south from Cornwall Street in Cheshire to Todd Street in Hamden and includes the historic Farmington Canal's restored Lock 12, located south of Brooksvale Road in Cheshire. The paved, multiple-use trail is used for hiking, biking, jogging, in-line skating and cross-country skiing.HistoryThe site of the greenway was originally used by the native Quinnipiac tribes as a path prior to its expansion as a road by the colonists. In 1822, it was proposed that a canal be dug for water transportation as a route to bypass the Connecticut River traffic through Hartford. The project began on July 4, 1825, and represented Connecticut's entry into the "national canal craze" and a new transportation era in Connecticut. The ground-breaking ceremony was modest and included Connecticut Governor Oliver Wolcott, Jr. having the honor of turning the first spadeful of earth, but the spade broke and would later be recognized as a bad omen.Leary wrote that the canal began at Long Wharf in New Haven, Connecticut and exited the state of by the Congamnond Ponds, some 56mile to the north. The canal had a total of 28 lift locks which measured 90ft long by 12ft wide. These lift locks were required due to the significant elevation changes from New Haven to Massachusetts. Beginning in New Haven, the first 1.25mile had masonry walls, but the rest of the canal was "simply a ditch" about 4ft deep that was only suitable for a flat bottomed canal boat. Leary describes the canal was "unquestionably Connecticut's foremost engineering feat before the advent of the railroads." The first sections of the canal were operational in 1828, and the canal boats were pulled by mules up the canal, but it wasn't complete until the late 1830s. The operation of the canal was affected by the precipitation, with drought-like conditions resulting in closed sections, but it had a great impact on the local businesses and industries adjoining the canal.
