Erie Canal Resources
Dates covered: 1817-1825
Contains affiliate links
Books:
The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal. Cheryl Harness. Illustrated narrative nonfiction history. A detailed, illustrated history explaining how workers carved the Erie Canal across New York, why many believed it could not be built, and how the finished canal transformed transportation and trade in early America. Mentions dangerous labor and accidental death. Reading level: ~4. New York, United States, 1825.
The Erie Canal. Martha E. Kendall. Narrative children’s history. A story-style history describing how the Erie Canal was planned and built and how the completed waterway changed travel and commerce in early nineteenth-century New York. Mentions hazardous work and historical accidents/death in a factual manner. Reading level: ~7. New York, United States, 1825.
The Erie Canal. Julie Murray. Introductory children’s history overview. A simple introduction explaining why the Erie Canal was built and how it improved transportation, trade, and movement of goods and people across New York in the early nineteenth century. Mentions difficult labor conditions. Reading level: ~2. New York, United States, 1825.
The Erie Canal. Andrew Santella. Concise historical overview for young readers. Explains how the canal was engineered and constructed and how it helped expand trade, transportation, and westward growth in the early United States. Reading level: ~4. New York, United States, 1825.
The Erie Canal. Peter Spier. Illustrated historical picture book. A visual journey based on the traditional canal song “Low Bridge, Everybody Down,” following a mule-drawn packet boat from Albany to Buffalo and showing locks, aqueducts, and canal towns at work during the canal era. Reading level: ~3. New York, United States, 1825. Caldecott Honor Book.
The Story of the Erie Canal. R. Conrad Stein. Documentary-style children’s history. Explains how New York planned, financed, and built the canal across forests, rock, and swamps and how the completed waterway transformed transportation, settlement, and trade in the early United States. Reading level: ~6. New York, United States, 1825.
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Coloring Pages
Crafts and Arts:
Activity Pages
- Activity Pages for older students
- Canal System Activity Pages
- Erie Canal’s Learning Hub
- Several other activities
Movies/Videos/Documentaries
- How The Erie Canal Transformed America – IT’S HISTORY (21 minute documentary)
- The Erie Canal(I like this one because it shows why it went where it did)
- Travels on the Erie Canal: Locks (This shows how locks work, and works well with the PBS Compact Science video.
- PBS Compact Science: Erie Canal
- PBS’s Playlist of different videos
- Playlist of different videos
- Science Storytime: Explore the Erie Canal With the book by Peter Spier, and
Museums/Field Trips (including virtual):
- Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse, New York.
- Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor (multiple sites, NY)
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe5z-yyGPl7qeonrPqmI9oA (museum’s YouTube channel). Syracuse, New York.
- Links to activity pages with links to a 3D tour
- Lockport Erie Canal Discovery Center Lockport, New York
Recipes:
Songs:
