Montezuma Heritage Park & Richmond Aqueduct Ruins – Montezuma, NY

I love when history and nature converge as they do at the Montezuma Heritage Park. This park has some of the most gorgeous and wild hiking trails mixed in with the unique history of the Eire Canal. The Richmond Aqueduct Ruins are what first drew my attention to the park, but it was the trails that made me fall in love with it.

Richmond Aqueduct Ruins

I was excited to discover this historic aqueduct’s ruins hidden away in this park. The Richmond Aqueduct Ruins were the second-largest aqueduct on the Erie Canal. The aqueduct carried the water from the Erie Canal over the Seneca River, taking boats over the Seneca River rather than through it. Constructed in 1849 and opened in 1857, the Aqueduct was designed and built by Van Rensselaer Richmond. The original aqueduct had 31 arches and was over 900 feet long, spanning the Seneca River.

When the Erie Canal was reconstructed in the early 1900s, most of the unused aqueduct was demolished to open up the Seneca River to boating traffic, leaving only the small portion that can be seen today.

The Richmon Aqueduct Ruins is an impressive structure and a marvel of engineering at the time it was built. We had a great time exploring the areas around the aqueduct on both sides, but the only way to get a really good look at the aqueduct from the front is in the river.

Trails

There are 11 trails within the 160 acres of the Montezuma Heritage Park, and these trails are just incredibly beautiful and have an untamed wildness about them. Many of them are hollows within the woods, with wildflowers growing on the sides of the trails. I particularly liked the Seneca River Barge Canal Trail and Locketenders Trail. The trails at Montezuma Heritage Park are, for the most part, flat and easy. We were able to enjoy hiking through this park without encountering another person the entire time we were there.

We only were able to hike a few of the trails on our first visit here. However, we are so taken with this park that we plan to return to hike the other trails.

#1 – Byron Lapp Memorial Trail (.4 miles) – Site of the original junction of the Erie Canal and Cayuga Seneca Canals.

#2 – Aqueduct Trail (.4 Miles) – The enlarged Erie Canal Towpath to the remains of the Richmond Aqueduct Ruins

#3 – Lock 62 Trail (.5 Miles) – The trail leads to the remains of the lock of Clinton Ditch’s era connecting Trail #10 on Seneca River.

#4 – Paper Mill Trail (.4 Miles) – Site of the remains of the Montezuma Fibre Company that converted harvested flg (cattails) into cardboard paper pulp.

#5 – Drumlin Trail (.9 Miles) – Gradually inclines to a drumlin hill looping around a reservoir that supplied water to the paper mill.

#6 – C & S Lock 11 Trail (.6 Miles) -This trail is the site of the former drydock, marsh area, and birding lookout deck. The trail ends at the site of the former Cayuga-Seneca Lock 11.

#7 – Locktender’s Trail (.4 Miles) – Hike along the towpath of Clinton’s Ditch, Lock 62, connecting at Trail #10.

#8 – Lavoy Trail – Named for Barry & Janet Lavoy former trailblazers for the park.

#9 – Fitz’s Trail (.4 Miles) – Named for trailblazer, Tom Fitzsimmons.

#10 – Seneca River Barge Canal Trail (.6 Mile) – Trail along the Seneca River shoreline begins at aqueduct and ends at Trail #11.

#11 – Upland Ridge Trail (.6 Miles) -Connect to Trail #10

Know Before You Go:

While the towpath to the Aqueduct Ruins is nice and wide open, the other trails are significantly narrower. This is great for creating an idyllic sylvan setting, but be sure to stay on the trail; I noticed a lot of poison ivy along the trail’s edge as we walked.

We visited on a humid day, and the mosquitos were a bit intense. I don’t think they normally would have been that bad if not for the high humidity. However, as long as we kept moving, they were too bad. I would recommend wearing repellent, just in case.

Out and About With Nova

Nova always enjoys our adventures, particularly ones with water, so this place was right up her alley. There was a great deal of wildlife at Montezuma Heritage Park, and she had a blast sniffing around and spotting critters running.

This is a very dog-friendly destination as long as they are leashed. It goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway); please clean up after your pet.

Getting to Montezuma Heritage Park

Address: 8098 High St, Montezuma, NY

Google Map Link

Have you visited Montezuma Heritage Park and the Richmond Aqueduct Ruins? What did you think? Did we miss anything? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below.