Clinton's Ditch

Clinton's Ditch is an historical outdoor play which has been performed at Canalside in the summer of 2009 and 2011. The play was staged at the historical site where the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, one of the most historical sites in the nation. The play is popular with children and adults as many children study the canal in school. Clinton's Ditch is fast moving and entertaining and brings to live audiences, live performances ,and a large cast of actors. It is the story of thousands of immigrants and farm workers taking up the tremendous task of digging a ditch 363 miles. The play dramatizes their long journey through primitive forests, swamps, and solid rock and the wilderness of New York . It is also the story of Governor DeWitt Clinton, the father of the Erie Canal, whose dream to build the canal was tested by the brute forces of powerful politicians, and a public which fought its completion.