L:>ck 52 at Port Byron is the most visible example of a 19th century Enlarged Erie Canal lock. At right, the canal boat Chas. N. White sits in Ta nner's Drydock, circa 1900. Erie House can be seen at left in the distance.
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At fa r right top, Lock 52 is shown in operation passing through westbound canal boats. At bottom, the lock structure bridges the canal. The lock house can be seen atop the structure and the towpath is visible on the left.
Erie House in 1894 and opened its doors as a public emporium for the serving of spirits, dining and lodging. Mr. Yan Detto could not have chosen a better spot. One hundred yards west of the Erie House, Lock 52 passed boats night and day while, just across the canal, Tanner' s Drydock operated as a facility for the construction and repair of canal vessels. Guests of the Erie House included canal boatmen, travelers passing through town and local habitues of the saloon. At Erie House, customs of the day prevailed, and only men were allowed to enter the barroom. Ladies were welcome but entered a back dining room through an entrance on the side porch. An antlered deer head advertising Buck' s Beer stared out over the barroom at patrons who could sit on benches made by Mr. Yan Detto. The guest rooms upstairs were small, comfortable and clean. Each was appointed with an iron bed, a dresser and a wash basin. It is difficult today to imagine a full registerof guests, the Yan Detto family and a dog named Maude all under one roof. Peter Yan Detto 's business was a success . He later opened a stable, blacksmith shop and ice-house to compliment his saloon and hotel. In 1903 , however, Port Byron's days as a canal town were numbered. The people of New York voted to approve fund s for the construction of the Barge Canal System. The Barge Canal System replaced the antiquated 19th-century canals and towpaths with a state of the art inland waterway which foll owed "canalized" natural water courses for much of its length. The Erie Division of the Barge Canal was to follow the Seneca River through central New York, nearly five miles north of Port Byron. Consequently, many of the SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95
old canal towns from New London to Montezuma were detached from the line of the new Barge Canal. The end of the canal era in Port Byron came in 1917. Navigation opened on the improved Erie Canal and the old canal with its dusty towpath passed into legend. Segments of its channel were either de watered, filled in or abandoned to private ownership. With the closing of the canal and the passage of a temperance ordinance rendering Port Byron a "dry town," the Erie House shut its doors to the public. P01t Byron and neighboring Weedsport and Montezuma in time adapted to change and ass umed new roles as satellite communities to Auburn and Syracuse. Others disappeared altogether from the map of New York. The Erie House became a private residence for Mr. Yan Detto, his wife Adelina and two daughters, Marie and Theresa. The Yan Detto daughters , who never married, became school teachers and much respected citi zens of the community. The Erie House property remained in the Yan Detto family for 77 years until Marie' s death in 1993 at age 97. Fortunately, the ladies realized the historic significance of their home and donated furni shings from their father' s saloon into the safekeepi ng of the Canal Society of New York State. Craig Williams, canal scholar of note, interviewed Marie Van Detto and obtained her remembrances of a ch ildhood growing up along the Erie Canal. It was Ms. Van Detto's hope that the Erie House would be preserved as a cu ltural resource, after her passing. The Erie House today sits at the center of a unique cluster of historic canal sites.The 1.7 acre Erie House property consists of two buildings: the hotel it-
self, a two story wood frame structure, and an outbuilding which was configured from the 19th-century mule barn and blacksmith shop . The towpath extends across the length of the property. Nearly a full acre contains the well defined de watered channel of the Enlarged Erie Canal and a segment of Tanner' s drydock, where local legend states that the last boat on the old canal was launched and sent east as the canal drained behind. The site of the drydock, which was filled in after the canal closed, is located across from the Erie House on county land. Lock 52, which adjoins the Erie House property, is the most splendid and visible example of a 19th-century Enlarged Erie Canal lock in the state. The lock, which was completed in 1855 , had a lift of 11.2 feet and its double chambers allowed for the simu ltaneou s passage of boats in either direction . The south chamber was lengthened in 1887 to accommodate a double tow in a single lockage. The Erie House and Lock 52 are but a ten minute walk out of downtown PortB yron and within a ten-mile radius there exists an amazing array of 19th- and 20thcentury canal sites such as the Richmond Aqueduct, the Villages of Weedsport and Montezuma, and Barge Canal Lock 25 at Mays Point.
Re-Opening Doors of History
In March 1994, Marie Van Detto's wish was fulfilled. The Erie House property and many artifacts of the saloon were sold at auction to the State Council on 17