The Delaware & Hudson Canal Story: How Ulster County Fueled America's Industrial Rise

Before the railroad, before the interstate, there was a canal. And for thirty years, the Delaware & Hudson Canal was one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the United States — a 108-mile waterway that hauled Pennsylvania coal from the mines to the Hudson River, and from there to every city on the eastern seaboard.

Ulster County was the eastern terminus. The canal's story is the story of how this region went from a farming landscape to an industrial powerhouse — and how the towns it built still survive today.

How the Canal Worked

The D&H Canal opened in 1828. Coal from the anthracite fields around Carbondale, Pennsylvania, was loaded onto mule-drawn boats and floated 108 miles through 109 locks down to the Hudson River at Rondout (now part of Kingston). From there, it was loaded onto ships and sent south to New York City and beyond. In its peak years, the canal moved over a million tons of coal annually. It was, briefly, the busiest commercial waterway in America.

What It Built

The canal didn't just pass through Ulster County — it created it. Every town along the route grew because of the canal:

Rondout (Kingston): The canal's eastern terminus became a bustling port. Warehouses, docks, and shipbuilders lined the waterfront. What is now the Rondout district was once the busiest commercial strip in the county.

Rosendale: The canal demanded cement to line its locks — and Rosendale had the best natural cement rock in the world. Rosendale cement was used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, the U.S. Capitol dome, and the foundations of New York City's skyscrapers.

High Falls: A canal-era hamlet with locks still standing, gristmills along the water, and a walking path where mules once towed boats. The High Falls Tavern dates to the canal boom years.

Walking the Old Towpath Today

You can still follow the canal's route. The D&H Canal Heritage Trail and the Old Champlain Canal Trail in the Hudson Valley preserve sections of the original towpaths. In High Falls, the canal lock is preserved and open to visitors. In Rosendale, the Trolley Trail follows part of the old canal corridor. In Kingston's Rondout, the waterfront is a public park where the canal basin once was.

Why It Matters

The D&H Canal was America's first million-dollar private enterprise. It proved that long-distance canals could work. It created the first generation of American industrial millionaires. And when it was replaced by the railroad in the 1870s, it left behind towns that spent the next century trying to find their purpose.

Today, those same towns are being rediscovered. The Rondout is Kingston's most vibrant neighborhood. Rosendale is a center for arts and climbing culture. High Falls is a quiet, beautiful place where you can stand on the same towpath a mule-driver walked in 1840.

The coal is gone. The canal is dry. But what it built is still here.