Manchester Canal

Manchester Canal. . , The still water in front of you once flowed freely to the right. It once spun the water wheels and turbines of several paper companies (like the one to your left), …grist mills (where the grain elevator is now to your right) …and an electric generating station (the remains of which are also to your right.) Today it is home to turtles, ducks and muskrats., The canal was dug by black African slaves and white Irish immigrants. Water came into the canal at the Manchester Dam (¼ mile to your left along the Floodwall Walk) and once returned to the river at a point now just below the I-95 bridge (you can see it along the Slave Trail)but now ends about ½ mile to your right along the Floodwall Walk where the power lines cross the river., Pictured above is the Dunlop Mills building. It was located across the street from where you are standing. Through the 1800s industries in Manchester drew water power from the canal., In the 1700's the land around you was a grassy field called the Manchester Green. It was a periodic gathering place for farmers to trade livestock and had a ferry service of row boats and rafts to access the tiny town of Richmond across the river. It is interesting to note that the land along the canal to your left is once again in public ownership-and is intended to become a public park.