The Union Canal Tunnel is the country’s oldest existing transportation tunnel.

Union Canal Tunnel
Lebanon Valley's Union Canal Tunnel Oldest of Its Kind

It may be only five-eighths of a mile long‚ but the Union Canal Tunnel cuts quite a swath through Lebanon Valley history.

Today‚ this restored strip of canal and tunnel is the only navigable section of the original 82-mile canal‚ built in 1825 and stretching from Reading to Middletown. The original canal was used to move goods from the interior of the nation to Philadelphia. It’s of particular importance because the tunnel is a national historic landmark and a national civil engineering landmark‚ says Jim Schucker‚ who has been heavily involved with the tunnel and its restoration.

“It is the oldest existing transportation tunnel in the United States‚” he says. “That’s the reason this part of the canal has been preserved and why the surrounding park has grown. We wanted to keep it in a rural setting‚ so we put together a 107-acre park right outside of town.”

Schucker is treasurer of Union Canal Days‚ an annual May festival that draws thousands of people for canal-boat rides pulled by a horse or a mule‚ carriage rides‚ train rides for kids‚ Colonial crafts‚ food and musical entertainment. Canal rides are also available on second and fourth Sundays from June through October; on nights when a full moon is visible‚ moonlight rides are also available.

“We get visitors from all over the world that have read about the tunnel. It was quite a feat to dig through solid rock in 1825‚ with no dynamite‚ all handwork‚” Schucker says.

“It took a little over two years with teams working around the clock. When you go through the tunnel you can still see the drill marks‚ just as it was when it was drilled out.”

Images of Lebanon Valley, PA, 2007 edition

Story by Catherine Darnell
Photo by Stephen Cherry