America's first canal

I was intrigued to read of one man's restoration efforts on America's first industrial canal, before realising that the American's use the word 'canal' to mean any ditch, drain or, as in this instance, mill race.

It's still interesting to read of the efforts to clean up the Mother Brook at Dedham in Massachusetts, constructed in 1639. However, it made me wonder were the first real canal was in America. Turns out to be the South Hadley Canal, also in Massachusetts, opened in 1795. Rather surprisingly, the canal is no longer navigable although much of it is still in water. It's not clear when it stopped being used for navigation.