D&R Canal Historic Photograph Exhibition

An exhibition of historic photographs, “Home on the Canal: Bridge and Lock Tenders’ Houses on the Delaware & Raritan Canal,” will open with a reception at the Sawmill at Prallsville Mills, Stockton, N.J., 2:30 to 5 p.m., June 5.

The exhibition, sponsored by the D&R Canal State Park and D&R Canal Watch, and hosted by the Delaware River Mill Society, continues through June 30.

Each lock and bridge along the canal had a canal house in which the lock or bridge tender and his family lived. 

While lock tenders and lock houses were regular features on most canals, the D&R also required bridge tenders and bridge houses for its swing bridges.  Of the total 15 lock houses and 51 bridge houses identified by recent research, only 19 remain today. Photographs of 49 of the 66 houses are included in the exhibition.

Drawing on research by Canal Watch Vice President Barbara Ross and D&R State Park Historian Vicki Chirco, the exhibit includes previously unknown images dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Exhibition design and production is by Jack Koeppel, curator of the “Ribbons of Life” exhibition at the D&R Greenway Land Trust.

Each house was occupied by a canal company employee whose duty it was to tend the adjacent bridge or lock. These houses were provided as part of the compensation for lock and bridge tenders and their families, about whom little is known.  The job was a family affair in many cases and it was not unusual for a bridge tender to die at an advanced age while still employed or for a widow to take over as bridge tender.  A few bridge tenders lived out the rest of their lives in the houses as renters after the canal closed in 1932.

The majority of houses that remain today are owned and administered by the state and are in various states of preservation. Some are successfully managed by nonprofit organizations, a few have recently seen restoration and now await a useful purpose, and others are barely hanging on. The intent of this exhibition is to showcase these canal structures, reveal a little of their architecture and history, and highlight the significance of those that remain.

The Sawmill at Prallsville Mills is at 33 Risler St. (Route 29), Stockton, N.J.  The exhibit is free and open to the public 1 to 4 p.m. daily through June 30. For more information go to www.dandrcanal.com or call 609-924-2683.