Old Erie Canal State Historic Park follows the canal's towpath for 36 miles from DeWitt to Rome, passing through open farmland, dense woods, and old canal communities. This section was originally part of the Enlarged Erie Canal, which ran from Albany to Buffalo, and it now serves as a feeder for the New York State Barge Canal. Workers began construction of the original Erie Canal in 1817 on the flat Oneida Lake Plain between Syracuse and Rome, where this stretch was known as the Long Level and required no locks. Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal was an immediate commercial success, but growing traffic soon made enlargement necessary. Finished in 1862, the Enlarged Erie Canal was deeper, wider, and straighter than the original; in some places it was built directly on top of the earlier canal, while in others a new course eliminated unnecessary twists and turns. When the New York State Barge Canal opened in 1918, the Enlarged Erie Canal was abandoned.