The 4.5-mile Windsor Locks State Park Canal Trail follows the historic towpath of this 170-plus-year-old historic waterway. The canal’s many vantage points offer scenic vistas of both the Connecticut River and the old canal. Today’s paved surface lies atop the towpath, the actual walkway which animals, often mules, hauled the freight barges by rope north and south along the water way.

As with all of Connecticut’s canals, the coming of the railroads in the late 1840s spelled doom to the waterways for freighting. However, with a captive and consistent water source, the canal was well positioned to supply water for mill power, and factories sprang up along the canal banks. But as time, progress, and efficiencies of business marched on, even this use ultimately met its match. In recent decades, the recreating public is the largest user of this historic remnant of Connecticut’s commercial and industrial past.