Colonie has 10.2 miles of riverfront along the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, and its bike-hike trail follows them as part of the 359-mile NYS Canalway Trail from Buffalo to Albany. Along the route are Colonie Mohawk River Park, Shaker Creek, Delphus Kill, and the sites of Dunsbach and Fort’s Ferries. A stockade fort built in the 1600’s stood at Mohawk View near the bridge over Shaker Creek, but when the Erie Canal was replaced in 1918 by the larger New York State Erie Barge Canal, which used the river rather than a dug canal, the enlargement submerged the fort site. The trail also provides access to Colonie Mohawk River Park, a 150-acre park with hiking trails, picnic areas, ball fields, a swimming pool, and a boat launch. The Schenectady and Troy Railroad began operating in 1841, was built by the City of Troy, became part of the New York Central railroad in 1853, ran four passenger trains each way daily from Schenectady to Troy in 1913, and ended service by 1965; its right-of-way was used to build the bike-hike path in the 1970s. The trail crosses Shakers Creek, named for the communal religious society established in the area in 1776; the Shakers used the creek for power, built a gristmill in 1846 and a sawmill in 1883, invented the flat broom, grew broomcorn in the river lowlands, and sold their brooms to vendors along the Erie Canal.
