Mohawk River at Mabee Farm

Had an interesting day yesterday.  The little guy had a role in the DRAMAcademics production of The Amazing Erie Canal.  It's a combination of learning, acting and singing.  Ruth Henry does a great job writing plays that are fun to be in and enjoyable to watch.  Past plays have included Nellie Bly and Lewis and Clark.  Anyway, this performance was held at the Mabee Farm.  It's a historic site just west of Schenectady, on the Mohawk River.  The original Erie Canal passed within eyesight of this farm, so it is a very appropriate place to stage an educational play about the canal.

Today, most of the original canal is gone; paved over or abandoned in place when the current canal system was switched over to use the Mohawk River where possible.  The river is too shallow to carry traffic much of the year, so the current canal uses a system of removable dams to impound enough water to keep the river navigable for much of its length.  Like the original canal, the current canal uses locks to lift and lower boats from one pool to the next.

Last September, the locks and the dams took a terrible pounding from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.  Several locks are still being repaired.  It turns out that Lock 9 is sited just upstream of the Mabee Farm (maybe about a mile?) and I decided I'd wander down there to see how the repairs are coming along.  This photo is a few minutes' walk upriver from the farm, looking back at it.

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F Number	8.0
Lens ID	-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	23.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 46.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/320
Exposure Program	Manual
ISO	100
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire