National Canal Museum

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National Canal Museum The National Canal Museum is closed for the season. Public canal boat rides will not be offered during the 2026 season.

Where History Comes Alive on the Lehigh Canal! We are a hands-on museum with a narrated canal boat ride powered by mules.

🐴❤️ A Fond Farewell to Hank & GeorgeAfter 20 years of faithful service helping visitors experience life along the canal,...
10/20/2026

🐴❤️ A Fond Farewell to Hank & George

After 20 years of faithful service helping visitors experience life along the canal, our beloved mule team, Hank and George, have officially begun their well-earned retirement.

On September 30, they traveled to their new home at Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue in Mt. Airy, Maryland, where they will enjoy a slower pace and the care they so richly deserve.

Affectionately known as "The Twin Turbos," Hank and George were more than just our mules. They were valued members of our team. For two decades, they powered our Josiah White II canal boat rides and served as beloved ambassadors of canal history, connecting generations of students and visitors to the stories, traditions, and hard work that once kept America's canals moving.

One of the photos shows Hank and George on the day they arrived, identified by their auction numbers. Purchased at auction and welcomed into the National Canal Museum family in January 2006!

Please join us in thanking Hank and George for their years of service and wishing them a happy retirement! 💙

We don’t have many photographs of Lock 37 on the Lehigh Canal, but we were able to identify these based on a name on the...
10/19/2026

We don’t have many photographs of Lock 37 on the Lehigh Canal, but we were able to identify these based on a name on the back of one of the images - Wilson Gabel. After researching, we learned that Gabel was a lock tender in Hanover in 1910. Then we compared the images to maps of Lehigh Canal to confirm that this was Lock 37!

Donald Voorhees (1903-1989) is one of the many innovators we couldn’t fit into our 2026 exhibition, Dynamo! We wish we h...
10/15/2026

Donald Voorhees (1903-1989) is one of the many innovators we couldn’t fit into our 2026 exhibition, Dynamo! We wish we had space for them all, but luckily we still get to share the fascinating ways they've influenced the Corridor and beyond. Donald Voorhees was nationally famous in 1951 as the conductor of the Bell Telephone Orchestra, which had brought classical music into America’s homes on the radio for twenty-five years. That year, he also became the founding maestro of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra.
Born in Allentown, Voorhees was a child prodigy. He studied music with Bach Choir founder J. Fred Wolle, was an organist and choirmaster at 11, and at 12 played the pit piano in the Lyric Theater. While attending Allentown (now William Allen) High School, he organized two professional orchestras and played violin and piano in the school orchestra.
A week after graduation, Voorhees debuted on Broadway conducting “Broadway Brevities of 1920,” and led several Broadway musicals during the 1920s.
By 1925, Voorhees recognized that broadcast radio could present great music to a wide audience. After forming and conducting several radio ensembles, he organized the Bell Telephone Orchestra and began broadcasting on NBC Radio in 1940. The Bell Telephone Hour moved to live television in 1959, and the top-rated show beamed serious music, light classics, and world-famous soloists into living rooms until 1968.
Voorhees returned regularly to rehearse and direct the Allentown Symphony, bringing stars like opera singers Robert Merrill and Anna Moffo, pianist Peter Serkin, and band leader Benny Goodman to perform with the orchestra. He retired in 1983, after never missing a performance in 32 seasons.
When Voorhees died in 1989, the arts critic for the Allentown Call-Chronicle newspapers praised his commitment to his hometown: “Had Voorhees not been music director for the orchestra’s first year and had he not continued to conduct the group for as long as he did, there probably would be no Allentown Symphony at all.”
The Symphony celebrated its 75th season in 2025–2026. Their Symphony season just opened October 10th and runs through May 2027. Photo credit: Allentown Symphony Association Archives.

🚗 What can a 1930s toy car tell us about canal history?Quite a lot, actually.A small die-cast TootsieToy from the Nation...
10/13/2026

🚗 What can a 1930s toy car tell us about canal history?

Quite a lot, actually.

A small die-cast TootsieToy from the National Canal Museum's collection reveals a surprising story that stretches from the zinc mines of the Lehigh Valley to the company town of Palmerton, where innovations in zinc alloys helped transform American manufacturing.

Follow the metal behind this tiny toy to uncover connections to:
⛏️ Zinc mining in the Lehigh Valley
⚙️ Industrial innovation and metallurgy
🏘️ The rise of Palmerton and New Jersey Zinc
🚂 The transportation networks that moved raw materials and goods
🌿 The environmental legacy and restoration of Lehigh Gap

It's a powerful reminder that canal history isn't just about boats and waterways. It's about the people, industries, communities, and landscapes connected by the transportation networks that shaped our region.

🔗 Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4yOlS5N

⚙️ Dynamo! Has Arrived at Delaware Valley UniversityThe National Canal Museum’s traveling exhibition, Dynamo! The Innova...
10/12/2026

⚙️ Dynamo! Has Arrived at Delaware Valley University

The National Canal Museum’s traveling exhibition, Dynamo! The Innovators, Inventors and Architects of Revolutionary Change, is now on display at Delaware Valley University through Oct. 17.

Discover the stories of remarkable innovators from our region, including:

🐥 Bob Born, the “Father of PEEPS®,” who revolutionized candy production and helped create two of America’s favorite treats.

🚛 Edward R. Hewitt and Alfred F. Masury, whose engineering innovations helped create the legendary Mack Bulldog truck.

🏺 Frances Dorrance, whose groundbreaking archaeological survey launched a statewide effort to document more than 16,000 years of Pennsylvania history.

Stop by and explore the people, ideas, and innovations that helped shape our region and the nation before the exhibit moves on.

Learn more about Dynamo! https://bit.ly/4zu2ElB

We’re sharing an image of an aqueduct on the Delaware Canal (in the foreground), and a list of aqueducts along the Del...
10/05/2026

We’re sharing an image of an aqueduct on the Delaware Canal (in the foreground), and a list of aqueducts along the Delaware Canal, each labeled by their colloquial name and the creek they cross.

Many bridges have names: the George Washington, the Golden Gate, the Gordie Howe, etc. The Lower Trenton Bridge across t...
09/30/2026

Many bridges have names: the George Washington, the Golden Gate, the Gordie Howe, etc. The Lower Trenton Bridge across the Delaware River between Trenton and Morrisville has a motto:

Trenton Makes. The World Takes.

That boast dates to the early 20th century, when Trenton was a booming industrial city. Wire rope, iron beams, fine china, ceramic tiles and bathroom fixtures, textiles, auto parts, tires, and heavy-duty rubber products poured out of the city’s factories and mills. Across the river, Morrisville also produced rubber and ceramic tile.

The southernmost of the six bridges that connect the PA/NJ Delaware River Loop Trails, the current Trenton Makes bridge opened in 1929. It rests on the abutments and piers of the 1806 wooden covered bridge, the first to span the Delaware. Widened and strengthened in 1874 and 1892 for a Pennsylvania Railroad bridge, these stone structures have withstood every flood for the past 220 years.

The first Trenton Makes sign was installed in 1911 as a wooden sign hanging from a truss with the saying transposed: “The World Takes – Trenton Makes”. The current LED-lit sign is the fourth lit version and can be programmed to display a variety of colors.

Walkers and bicyclists can get an up-close look at the Trenton Makes Bridge. D&L Trail users can exit the trail at MM 9.54 and take the steps up to East Bridge Street. Turn right and follow East Bridge Street to the bridge. To make the loop, take the D&R Trail 7.4 miles north to Washington Crossing, New Jersey, cross the Delaware River Bridge and pick up the D&L Trail on the Pennsylvania side.

This postcard shows a large log raft heading down the Delaware River, photographed from Parker’s Glen, Pennsylvania, an ...
09/23/2026

This postcard shows a large log raft heading down the Delaware River, photographed from Parker’s Glen, Pennsylvania, an area about 3 miles southeast of Shohola, Pennsylvania. It’s also about halfway between the New York hamlets of Barryville and Pond Eddy (two communities on the Delaware & Hudson Canal).

The forests along the upper reaches of the Delaware River were packed with white pine and hemlock trees, which were very desirable to Philadelphia carpenters and shipbuilders. Trees were felled, limbed, and attached together to form rafts of varying size. Raftsmen used oars, sweeps, and poles to maneuver a raft downstream to get the lumber to market. Rafting is an ancient practice; even after advanced boat building techniques were developed, rafts have been used to carry people and material on waterways all over the world.

George Barclay (left, with his ‘head harness’ on his lap), Lafayette College Class of 1898, is credited as one of the ea...
09/16/2026

George Barclay (left, with his ‘head harness’ on his lap), Lafayette College Class of 1898, is credited as one of the early inventors of the football helmet. The earliest known version of head protection in football was seen in 1893 for the Army-Navy game, and shortly after that, Barclay invented his version. He had an Easton saddle maker sew leather straps together to protect himself from cauliflower ear. Barclay was one of the many people we researched for this year’s exhibition, Dynamo! We just wish we had space to include them all! Image: From Lafayette College Archives, found at https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2018/08/who_invented_the_football_helmet.html

📸 What do concrete churches, a deadly automobile accident, Charles M. Schwab's family fortune, a failed coup, and Adolf ...
09/11/2026

📸 What do concrete churches, a deadly automobile accident, Charles M. Schwab's family fortune, a failed coup, and Adolf Hi**er have in common?

The answer is Titus de Bobula, an eccentric Hungarian-American architect who married into the Schwab family and lived a life stranger than fiction.

What began as a simple inquiry from a museum visitor sent our staff down an unexpected rabbit hole, uncovering a story filled with ambitious architecture, society scandals, courtroom battles, financial intrigue, mu*****ns dealings, and even an ill-fated attempt to overthrow a government.

🏛️ From Pittsburgh landmarks to international headlines, Titus de Bobula seemed to appear wherever controversy followed.

Read the incredible true story behind one of the most fascinating characters connected to Charles M. Schwab's circle.

👉 Read more: https://bit.ly/4hmbeNc

Address

2750 Hugh Moore Park Road
Easton, PA
18042

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10:30am - 3:30pm
Thursday 10:30am - 3:30pm
Friday 10:30am - 3:30pm
Saturday 10:30am - 4:30pm
Sunday 10:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

(610) 923-3548

Website

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