Museum Hosts Lecture on D&H Canal Workers “Stories of Marginalized Workers on the D&H Canal”

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming lecture “Stories of Marginalized Workers on the D&H Canal,” by Bill Merchant, held both in-person at the museum's Wooden Boat School, and virtually via Zoom link on Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 7:00 PM.

​The construction of the 108-mile-long Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal required about 5000 laborers working in hard and dangerous conditions.  During its seventy-years in operation, the Canal created an important source of work for the laborers needed to move the many thousands of tons of goods and resources along it annually. Some workers found economic opportunities and independence, but others were exploited and subject to poor working conditions.

In this hybrid lecture, historian Bill Merchant, will give a presentation on the marginalized workers on the D&H Canal. Learn about the lives and diverse experiences of the people of color, women, immigrants, and children who built and worked on the Canal.

Bill Merchant is Deputy Director for Collections, Historian and Curator of the D & H Canal Historical Society Museum, High Falls, NY He was previously President of the board. He also serves as President of the Delaware and Hudson Transportation Heritage Council, is Chair of the Marbletown Preservation Commission, and is on the board of the Century House Historical Society, where he chairs their collections committee and is their historian.
Tickets are $7 for the general public and free for Hudson River Maritime Museum members.. 

About the Follow the River Lecture Series
For more than a decade the Hudson River Maritime Museum's "Follow the River Lecture Series" has hosted historians, authors, and maritime experts for engaging illustrated talks on a variety of regional history and maritime subjects. In recent years, many of the lectures have also been recorded and are available on our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw0Ax5JVtHZtjuPLgwZJp-MgthLQcrWtD
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