The location of the Arboretum to the Towpath Trail makes it ideal as a partnering site for interpretation.  The completed trail begins on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland and ends just south of Zoar, a 110-mile corridor that follows the original canal system built in 1832. 

The rest of the canal system continues past Zoar and ends at the city of Portsmouth on the Ohio River.  The entire 308-mile length was hand dug to a width of 40’ and a depth of 4’, and included a system of 151 locks to raise and lower boats over the elevations of the land.

This canal system was the first inland waterway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and opened up commerce from the interior of the “Northwest Territory” to the rest of the country.

Canal boats from Ohio entering Lake Erie could trade with canal boats from the Erie Canal, which connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River in New York. 

After completion of the canal system, the population of Ohio exploded and hundreds of towns and industries were built along the canal to take advantage of the easy trade the canal provided. 

In Zoar, The German settlers built two-and-one-half miles of the canal over a three-year period.  The State of Ohio paid them $22,867, which was enough for them to pay off the debt on their 5,000 acres of land in the Tuscarawas River Valley. 

They also built Lock 10 on the canal, which is directly across the river from their own feeder canal guardlock.  They improved the dam across the river to allow more water to flow into their millrace and enlarged their guardlock to allow canal boats access to their mills. 

Zoar started trading with the outside world, which eventually led to internal disenchantment with the communal life and the disbanding of the Zoar Society in 1898.  The opening of the canal to Zoar is a story of great importance that will be interpreted at the Zoar Wetland Arboretum.

For hikers already on the towpath, cross the Zoar Bridge and turn left down an old cement road bed. 

At the guardlock...
1. Veer right and follow the open trail into the woods and past the levee to the picnic shelter.  The trail continues past the shelter where it ends at a gully.  This is where we envision a boardwalk spanning the wetland to connect the other side.  For now, hikers must return the same way.  Or...

2. Veer left and follow the trail upriver where it ends at an open field.  This is where a connecting boardwalk would meet the other side.

The woods are teeming with song birds, water birds, and predatory birds.  Click Here for a list of birds that have been seen and heard at the wetland over several years.  Let us know what birds you discover, and thanks for visiting!