The Delaware and Raritan Canal Watch will hold a walking tour of the D&R Canal this weekend.
The walk on June 8 will encompass a 5.8-mile section of the canal park between East Millstone and South Bound Brook, which will also have an option for a shorter walk ending at Zarephath.
The shorter walk will be 2.7 miles.
“The D&R Canal Watch have had monthly walking tours along the canal for 15 years. I have been doing the tours since 2013,” explained Pamela V’Combe, a Canal Watch Board member. “What we do is break up the 66-mile canal into 10 to 12 sections during the course of the year. We provide a small walk in between the five to seven-mile total walk of a section for someone who does not want to do the full amount. We just make arrangements.”
The walks have usually consisted of five to eight people.
“This weekend we will probably have between six and 10 people,” she said.
V’Combe said she tries to integrate the history of the canal during the walk.
“I like to point out the context of its geographical location, the communities, and how the canal came about. We will go from canal history to colonial history and township development history. I just want to give people the idea that this is a living canal,” she said. This is a little slice of paradise.”
V’Combe will also point out notable sites and canal structures, which include the Pillar of Fire site at Zarephath and the adaptive reuse of the derelict GAF factory at South Bound Brook.
The walk is free and those who plan on attending the walk at 10 a.m., must meet at the Lock 11 parking lot, across from the South Bound Brook Post Office on 11 Madison St.
“I hope people have an appreciation of the Millstone Valley from this weekend walk, an understanding and appreciation of the canal, and know how easy it is to access these places so they can continue with the group next year or on their own,” V’Combe said.
For more information, contact, Pamela V’Combe at [email protected].