by Joy Underhill
In my bike rides along the NYS canal, I’ve passed a few murals depicting life during the heyday of the Erie Canal. I never gave them much thought until a recent ride between Clyde and Lyons in Wayne County.
There I discovered just how many murals have been painted in recent years and how extensive the effort has been to preserve and promote the history of Upstate New York through the works of local artists.
What is Mural Mania?
Mural Mania began in 2007 in Lyons as a volunteer effort to transform a trash heap into a park. The first mural, “Winston’s Dream,” depicts the old Erie Canal on a trolley bridge abutment and was named after Winston Dobbins, who started the project.
The murals have taken off since then, now numbering 17 in Lyons and more than 60 in Wayne County. Co-founder Mark DeCracker believed that “If you paint it, they will come,” which has proven true time and again.
The murals stretch mostly along the Erie Canal. “We started with a goal of 40 miles of murals and in two years had covered 50 miles,” said DeCracker. “Now we’re working on 180 miles from Syracuse to Buffalo.”
Mural Mania is the longest mural trail in the world, and it now includes towns such as Williamson, Wolcott, Canandaigua and other communities that seek to commemorate their history through public art.
Biking the Erie Canal
The canal we have today is expanded and rerouted from the original Clinton’s Ditch, and its function has changed from commerce to recreation.
Biking between Clyde and Lyons gave me a close look at both the historic and current canal, some of which is paved over (Route 31 and old Route 31).
A sign along the trail in Clyde shows where the murals are located. From an old hardware store to a railroad stop, the murals tell the story of when small Erie Canal towns developed, thrived and served as transportation hubs.
Riding back to Lyons, I encountered a busy chicken farm, a narrow lock with good fishing and unused parts of the canal that had returned to swampland. As the trail approached Lyons, I stopped to take in another sign showing many of the historic murals located in town.
Between the Broad and Water Street Historic District and well-preserved landmarks such as the Ohmann Theater, walking through Lyons was like taking a step back in time.
About the murals
Mark Williams, mural designer and artist, works with communities to create art that best represents both the history and current culture of a place. “We often go through several designs before we agree on what works,” he said. “It can be challenging to maintain good aesthetics without sacrificing an important event or person in the mural.”
If you come across a mural, be sure to take time to examine the details within. For fun, try locating some of these items in Lyons:
• A gold tooth of the patient in the dentist chair
• An exorbitant bounty posted for Harriett Tubman on a reward poster
• The year that Dobbins Pharmacy was established\
• A Statue of Liberty tile in the “Sal” mural
• The traditional color of bottles of Hotchkiss peppermint oil
The Mural Mania website muralmania.org does an excellent job of describing the murals, the artists who created them and where they are located.
