In This Issue

Volunteers Wanted

Here's a great volunteer opportunity for fans of the Gaylord Building. We're looking for people to help staff the front desk. Its a great opportunity to share your love of this historic site with visitors. Hours are flexible. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Pat Chinderle, 815.588.1100, or pchinderle@canalcor.org.

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Are You a Member?

Are you a member of Canal Corridor Association?  If not, consider joining today.  Memberships begin at just $35 per year, with discounts for multi-year memberships. Your gift will both provide fun CCA member benefits AND help build an exciting future for a region that brings to life a rich and vibrant past. Membership forms are available online.

If you are a member, thank you.  Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve the membership experience.

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Canal Corridor Association is a membership organization that preserves history, protects nature and open space, and creates destinations where people can learn and have fun in the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, from Lake Michigan in Chicago to the Illinois River in LaSalle/Peru. It enhances, raises awareness of and expands the parks, trails, landscape and historic sites that make the I&M Canal region a special place. CCA manages the Gaylord Building, a National Trust Historic Site, in Lockport, Illinois. One of the oldest industrial buildings in the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, the Gaylord Building is a model of adaptive reuse, featuring the Public Landing restaurant, canal exhibits and more.

CCA President's Note

Dear Friends,

The Canal Corridor Association was delighted to present three National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored summer workshops for the second time this last summer.  Titled “The Last Great American Canal: How the Illinois & Michigan Canal United Nineteenth Century America,” the workshops featured noted historians, university scholars and master teachers who along with K-12 participants, explored the I&M Canal and its impact on 19^th century America.

In the last two years, 235 teachers have learned about the I&M Canal and have gone home and taught over 18,000 students.

Now other teachers can benefit from their work.  These teachers created lesson plans which are currently posted on the Canal Corridor Association website.  To explore over 30 lesson plans for grades K-12, click here. 

Please share this newsletter with teachers you know.  Also let us know if you were able to use the lesson plans. 

Happy November,

Ana B. Koval

President & CEO

Canal Fact

Before the canal opened, heavy wagons hauled farm products to Chicago.  The canal brought people to Illinois and opened new markets.

The Gaylord Building Dinner & Lecture Series Continues this Thursday at 6:00 pm

“Escape to Freedom”

 Ron Vasile will ExploreThe Underground Railroad in the I&M Canal Corridor

John Hossack was a Scottish immigrant who moved to Ottawa, Illinois, in 1838. In the 1850s, he and other abolitionists in I&M Canal towns, were enmeshed in battling slavery and providing refuge to runaway slaves on their way north to freedom. Learn about these defiant “conductors” on the Underground Railroad by attending “Escape to Freedom: The Underground Railroad in the I&M Canal Corridor,” a talk on November 3 at the Gaylord Building Historic Site, 200 W. 8^th Street, Lockport. The event is part of the Gaylord Building Dinner & Lecture series presented by the Canal Corridor Association (CCA).

“The history of the Underground Railroad is difficult to piece together,” said Ron Vasile, CCA historian who will give the talk. “We know much more about the people who helped the slaves escape to freedom than we do about the slaves themselves.

“The I&M Canal Corridor had many ardent abolitionists. While their names are little known today, residents like John Hossack and Ichabod Codding were on the frontlines in condemning slavery – risking their lives and their own freedom to help bring freedom to others.”

The event begins with a cash bar reception at 6 pm, followed by dinner and the presentation at 6:45 pm. Guests can choose from whitefish in parchment paper with julienne vegetables and wild rice or sautéed breast of chicken with picotta sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Dessert is apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  The cost of the Dinner & Lecture is $25 for Canal Corridor Association (CCA) members and $30 for non-members. Reservations are required; call 815-588-1100.

Cellar Master of Renowned Tallgrass Restaurant To Lead Wine Tasting

Tom Alves, Cellar Master at Tallgrass Restaurant will share his expertise at a “Wine Tasting with Cheeses” event on Thursday, November 10, CCA.  A variation on CCA’s popular Dinner & Lecture Series, the tasting will offer guests the opportunity to sip, sample, and shop for an exotic mix of wines and cheeses.  It will be held 6:30 pm to 8 pm at the Gaylord Building Historic Site, 200 W. 8^th Street, Lockport.

The evening will highlight a variety of wines from around the world and an assortment of cheeses.  Mr. Alves, drawing on more than 20 years of fine-dining experience at the renowned Tallgrass Restaurant, in Lockport, will recommend wines that compliment traditional holiday dishes and will suggest cheeses that highlight the flavor of each type of wine. “Choosing a wine-and-cheese combination is a very personal decision,” he says “but there are some combinations that appeal to a majority of consumers. They engage all the senses and really accentuate the dimensions of the wine.”

"Often when you go out to dinner, there is such a wealth and variety of wines to choose from, it can be overwhelming,” says Ana Koval, President/CEO of CCA.  “A wine tasting is a good opportunity to get to know what kinds of wine you like and want to serve."

Admission to “Wine Tasting with Cheeses” is $30.00 for members of CCA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation and $35.00 for non-members.  Wines will be available for purchase.  For more information and for reservations, contact Canal Corridor Association at 815-588-1100.

“When is it ok to break the law?” by Ron Vasile

In the middle of the 19th century many people risked their own freedom and their very lives in defiance of federal law in order to help escaped slaves find freedom. Illinois position in the nation’s heartland meant that many an escaped slave came through the region on their way to freedom in Canada. Canal towns such as Joliet, Lockport, and Ottawa were instrumental in the success of the Underground Railroad in Illinois.  The I&M Canal Corridor, from Chicago to LaSalle/Peru, had many ardent abolitionists. Their names are little known today, but men such as Ichabod Codding and John Hossack were on the frontlines in condemning slavery.

To some extent the story of the Underground Railroad has been romanticized. Some of the people who helped slaves escape were motivated not by a desire to do good for their fellow man but by cold hard cash. Recently a great deal of attention has been paid to the notion that quilts were used as markers on the Underground Railroad, although most historians dismiss these claims, pointing out that no mention was made of this custom until 1929. And we must also remember that most escaped slaves transported on the Underground Railroad did not find their ultimate freedom here in the land of the free but instead in Canada.

Hear more at Thursday's Dinner & Lecture!

Upcoming Events

Here is a sampling of events happening in the corridor.  For a more complete listing of events, click here to visit the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitor Bureau's website.  Don't see your event listed here?  Please send it to enews@canalcor.org.

Thursday, November 4  -  Gaylord Building Dinner & Lecture, Lockport

See above article for further information.

Thursday, November 10 - Wine Tasting with Cheese, Lockport

See above article for further information.

Tuesday thru Thursday, November 1-4 - Rhythm and Rhyme Musical, White Fence Farm, Lemont
Call for times and package pricing
815/723-8093

Saturdays, November 12 & 26 - Mobster Trolley Tour, Starved Rock Lodge, Utica
Spend an afternoon with Dan Churney, author of Capone’s Cornfields. He has unearthed more than 30 cases in which organized crime touched on – or clobbered – the Illinois Valley, ranging from moonshine to murder. Also included are trolley transportation, lunch in the Starved Rock Lodge Dining Room and Wine tasting at the new wine tasting room at Cattails. Call for more information and to purchase tickets.  11:00am - 2:30pm
800/868-7625 ext. 386.

Sunday, November 13 -  Second Sundays Lecture Series, Hegeler Carus Mansion, LaSalle

"Port of La Salle" presented by Ana Koval, President of the Canal Corridor Association.
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Call 815/224-5892 for reservations.

Saturday, November 19 - The Pianist, Arnaldo Cohen Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont
8:00pm
Call 630/252-3751 for more information.

Saturday, November 19 - Starved Rock Lodge Wine Trail, Starved Rock Lodge, Utica
Take a guided wine tour & visit three of Illinois’ finest tasting rooms. Tour includes Lunch in the Starved Rock Lodge dining room, wine glass and wine tasting at The Starved Rock Wine Company at Cattails, August Hill Winery, Illinois River Winery. For more information and to purchase tickets call 800/868-7625 ext. 386   11:00am – 3:00pm

Friday, November 25 - Ottawa Festival Lights Ceremony, Downtown Ottawa
Watch in awe as Ottawa's Washington Square glitters and glistens with holiday cheer! Washington Square comes alight about 7:00pm, following the parade at 6 p.m. Keep the Christmas spirit on Saturday during special downtown shopping hours!
815/434-2737

Saturday, November 26 - Light Up Streator City Park, Streator
Annual Celebration of lighting the park along with a holiday market at various inside and outside locations.
815/673-1708

Saturday, November 26 - Winter Wonderland Lighted Parade, North Water Street and Mill Street to City Hall, Wilmington
Santa visits, hot dogs, games and more.
815/476-7731

Saturday & Sunday, November 26-27 - Christmas Crossroads Arts and Crafts Festival, Lockport Township High School, Lockport
815/838-4900