Historic Waterways Adventure Online Curriculum
- Aqueduct - a bridge that carries water over another body of water or a valley.
- Berth - a bed such as on a boat.
- Boat yard - an area where boats are built, repaired or stored for the winter.
- Bow - the front of a boat.
- Bow stable - lower level in the front of the canal boat where mules or horses are kept.
- Broadside - a large paper printed on one side like a poster. Usually it is used as an advertisement.
- Brochure - a small pamphlet used to give information.
- Bunkhouse - building where people, usually workers, sleep.
- Cabin - the space set aside for use as living or sleeping quarters on the canal boat.
- Canal bed - the area of the canal that is filled with water.
- Canaller or canawler - a slang term for one who lives and or/works on the canal.
- Captain - the person in charge of the boat; usually, but not always, a man.
- Canal lock - a container on the canal made of two side walls and gates at both ends. Water is let in or let out to raise and lower a canal boat so it can continue its travel on the level of the water outside of the gate.
- Canal slip - a narrow waterway in the canal where boats can pull out of traffic and tie up.
- Census - a count, usually of people. The government takes this census to determine taxes.
- Chambermaid - a woman who cleans the sleeping area once called a bed chamber.
- Change bridge - a bridge that allows the mule or horse to cross over to the opposite side of the canal when the towpath changed sides.
- Clinton's Ditch - the early unofficial name given to the Erie Canal by people who made fun of Gov. DeWitt Clinton for supporting the Erie Canal.
- Commodities - a supply of goods or things to be sold.
- Directory - a list of names, addresses and other information about people and organizations.
- Document - a photograph, written record or official form that provides evidence or proof.
- Drydock - the place in the boat yard where a boat is removed from the water for repair or storage for the winter.
- Embarkation - to get on or board a boat.
- Engraving - a print made from a wooden block or metal that has been deeply carved out with a picture or words.
- Folio - a large sheet of paper folded to create two to four pages in a book; often used as a business record.
- Footbridge - a bridge that allows a pedestrian, or person on foot, to cross the canal.
- Freighter - a boat that carries heavy cargo or goods.
- Galley - the kitchen of the boat.
- Gunwale - the upper edge of a ship's side.
- Helmsman - a person who steers the canal boat.
- Hewn stone - stone that has been cut, usually for building.
- Hoggee - person, usually a young boy, who walks along the canal towpath leading the mules or horses that are pulling the boat.
- Journal - a book in which one writes, usually daily, weekly or monthly. Journals may record business or diary entries.
- Knowledge box - the head of a person.
- Lasses - young girls.
- Lithograph - a print that has been made by rolling a sheet of marked metal over a paper treated in a way that only certain areas will be printed with ink.
- Lumberjack - a person who cuts down trees for a lumber company to send to the saw mill for building.
- Line boat - a canal boat operated by a particular company.
- Packet boat - a canal boat that carries passengers.
- Passage - the travel on the canal or the cost of travel.
- Pike pole - a pole used on the canal boat to lift ropes over other boats, to push off the canal wall, to pull things from the water and other uses.
- Plat map - a map showing buildings, streets and other built or planned features.
- Pocket guide - a small book made to give travel information and maps to a traveler.
- Portico - a gateway or porch with a roof supported by columns.
- Provisions - supplies.
- Roustabout - a deck or boat laborer.
- Ship's log - a book that the Captain of a boat uses to write important information like places the boat travels, what or who it carries, repairs, expenses, weather and other remarks.
- Steam shovel - machinery similar to today's backhoe.
- Steersman - a person who steers the boat.
- Stern - the rear or back of a boat.
- Terminal building - building where passengers and cargo come and go and tickets can be purchased. On the canal, this building would be alongside the canal.
- Temperance house - a hotel or inn that does not serve beer or other alcohol.
- Toilet or toiletries - soaps, perfumes, brushes and other items used to keep clean, or a place to go to the bathroom.
- Towpath - a path followed by the mules and horses pulling the canal boat. Today it is used by people hiking, walking and bicycling.
- Tow-rope - a rope tied to one boat to be pulled or towed by another boat or horse or mule.
- Vagabond - a tramp or homeless wanderer.
- Vagrancy - living as a wanderer with no money or job.
- Woodcut - a piece of wood on which a picture has been carved; usually for printing.