A picnic area, walking and exercise trails and a StoryWalk give visitors a chance to enjoy nature while walking the grounds in this park. The full-size canal boat replica takes you back in time to when mules pulled the laden boats along the canal. The Museum’s displays include a working model of a canal lock along with many other exhibits relating Warren County’s history including Washington’s organ and piano industry, Lenape culture and life, Thomas Edison’s Portland Cement Company, the Easton-Washington Traction Company, America’s first airport dedicated to the auto giro, the Rockport train wreck, the Phillipsburg Airport, and the Eckle Age of Steam Museum.
Lock 7 West became known as “Bread Lock” because the store at the end of the lock sold goods to boatmen passing through back in the mid-19th century, including homemade bread and pies. While still buried, the remains of the lock itself speak to the historical significance of this site as part of the larger Morris Canal Greenway.
In use from the 1820s to the 1920s, the historic Morris Canal stretched 102 miles from the Delaware River along Phillipsburg to the Hudson River along Jersey City. Overcoming a height elevation of 914 feet using 23 locks and 23 inclined planes, the canal became known as the “Mountain Climbing Canal” and was a major engineering feat of its day. Today, a short section of the canal has been cleared and offers a lovely walk where you can see the prism that once held water and towpath traveled by mules pulling the boats along.