Rhode Islanders were excited about building the Blackstone Canal and saw it as a major employment
opportunity. After all, how hard could it be to dig a ditch?

The increase in elevation from Providence to Worcester was 452 feet, and the topography of the Blackstone Valley required the canal to traversemarshes, wetlands, creeks and brooks along its path. Canal construction proved more difficult thanoriginally thought and the over-eager Rhode Islanders in 1824 struggled to build it. The project was in dire straits so a call went out to the battled-tested Erie Canal builders, who happened to be Irish.

Speaker, Chuck Arnig, will  examine just why the Irish came, as “navvies” and “strollers,” to build the early canals of America. The lecture will focus on how the Irish saved the Blackstone Canal, an important economic engine that stretched from the exploding seaport of Providence, R.I. to the rural landscape of Central Mass.,
terminating in the Village of Worcester, and what happened after the Canal project was completed.

CHUCK ARNING retired from the National Park Service (NPS) after 24-1/2 years of service as an Interpretive Ranger in the Blackstone River Valley. He currently works as a consultant for the Worcester Historical Museum and assists other museums and historic sites in accomplishing their missions.

St. Patrick’s Day