FrancoAmerican Gravy: Family History & Stories from Upstate New York, Quebec and Acadia

Stories of family and ancestors who lived and worked in Cohoes (textile and garment workers, butchers and barbers), Waterford (canalers), Whitehall (farmers and canalers), Port Henry (iron miners and Civil War soldiers), Champlain (canalers and farmers) and other towns along the Champlain Canal in New York State with some diversions to the places they emigrated from....Quebec (landless farmers, shoemakers, sailors, soldiers), Acadia (more farmers), and even Cornwall, England (tin miners).

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Juncta, where the Erie and Champlain Canals Came Together in Cohoes, NY

Old Juncta, Cohoes, NY

Juncta doesn't exist on contemporary maps, paper or digital. Juncta is the old area near the southern ends of Saratoga Street and Main Street where the Champlain and Erie Canals joined together to continue the route to Albany, New York or if your direction was north or west it was where the canal separated to to to Buffalo or to Whitehall and Lake Champlain. It once was the hub of canal boat activity and commerce. It was here in Juncta, that stores sold food supplies and hardware for boats, stables, livestock, animal feed and all the commodities necessary to a canalman. Hotels were operated to give travelers, merchants and boatmen a rest.