ST. MARYS: “Low bridge!” was the cry when canal boats approached the spans that often marked the outskirts of a town.
Tourism near Grand Lake St. Marys has been suffering a kind of low bridge lately, because of concerns about the lake’s water quality. The state has been working to reduce the toxic algae that have limited lake access.
The town of St. Marys isn’t on the water — unless you count the St. Mary’s River and the old Miami and Erie Canal, which you should.
The pretty little town that grew up around the canal is focusing again on the old waterway. When a downtown industrial building was torn down several years ago, the remnants of a canal lock were rediscovered. Last year, a nonfunctioning replica lock was constructed as the centerpiece of a revitalization effort.
The newly restored Lock 13N was once the 13th lock north of the Loramie Summit, the canal’s high point. Water pours once again through the canal gates, creating a soothing noise audible from the new stone shelter house and public restrooms next to the canal bed.
For those looking for a longer walk, the towpath continues all the way to Delphos, about 24 miles to the north.
Turning the other way, and following the old towpath under the Spring Street Bridge, visitors immediately arrive at Memorial Park, which also celebrates St. Marys’ canal history.
Memorial Park, wedged between the old canal and the St. Marys River, features a replica canalboat, the Belle of St. Marys. Visitors can clamber aboard and get the same kind of view that would have been afforded “canawlers” arriving in town 150 years ago.
The canal curls right along the back of a row of commercial buildings that front on Spring Street, forming a lovely old-time panorama. Quizzically but delightfully, several of the buildings still have doors opening onto the canal, as if awaiting freight from the next boat up from Cincinnati or down from Toledo.
The three-acre park is also home to a picturesque modern-day covered bridge that serves as a pedestrian walkway across the St. Marys River.
Soaring above the park is the town’s Clock Tower, built in 1988 to house the clock and bell salvaged from St. Marys’ original high school building.
Visitors who explore St. Marys’ quaint downtown will also find Heritage Park, a “pocket park” on Spring Street built by donations and volunteers on the site of a commercial building that burned down several years ago.
The park is a lovely oasis, with a fountain, benches, a small Japanese-garden-style watercourse and pond, and murals depicting two centuries of town life.
From Memorial Park, the old towpath/hiking trail extends 16 miles south to Lake Loramie State Park.
Being in more of a hurry than hikers or canawlers, I chose to celebrate modernity, save several hours and drive the route, following state Route 66 along the old canal bed to the historic canal town of New Bremen.
Here, the canal’s Lock 1N on the Loramie Summit has also been reconstructed and serves as the centerpiece of the town park. The old lockkeeper’s house has also been reconstructed. Inside, visitors will find exhibits on canal history. The structure also serves as the home of the Southwestern Auglaize County Chamber of Commerce.
The rebuilt lock is a beautiful reminder of just what a marvel of low-tech 19th- century engineering the canal locks were. Another such marvel is the cast-iron bowstring girder bridge that now serves as a walkway over the canal above the lock. The bridge, relocated from Wapakoneta, was built in 1864 and is the oldest surviving structure of its kind in Ohio.
But the real high point of any trip to New Bremen might involve another kind of muscle-powered vehicle: the bicycle.
New Bremen is home to the Bicycle Museum of America, just around the corner from the canal park.
The museum is located here because Jim Dicke II, the owner of Crown Equipment Corp., a major employer in the region, was looking for an attraction to help lure visitors to the area, said James Elking, a guide at the museum.
In 1997, the Schwinn family of bicycle fame was selling its personal collection of historic bicycles. Dicke bought the collection, which served as the nucleus of the new museum.
The collection has expanded to more than 700 bicycles and pedaled vehicles — thought to be the largest such privately owned collection, Elking said.
Almost 300 notable vehicles are on display at any one time.
Some of the highlights include the first bicycle ever built: an 1816 German-made Draisine, one of only five known to survive. Visitors will also see bicycle memorabilia, accessories and a video that includes some trick-riding aboard old-time high-wheel bicycles.
Almost everyone will see a bicycle he or she once dreamed Santa would bring. (My own newly remembered dream: a heartbreakingly cool 1973 Schwinn Stingray with a gearshift like something off a muscle car of the day.)
The museum also has a few other quirky nonbicycle displays reflecting the interests of the owner, including one that features all of the Crown-brand TV antenna rotor models produced from 1946 until the product was discontinued in 2001, and another with Dicke’s collection of presidential inaugural medals.
When it’s time to refuel, visitors will find the charming La Piazza restaurant next door to the museum in a historic brick building that was once the town’s hotel.
