Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The park was established in 1961 as a National Monument by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to preserve the neglected remains of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and many of its original structures.

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Former U.S. National Monument
U.S. National Historical Park
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Cumberland Basin at C&O Canal in 2013
Show map of Maryland Show map of the United States
Location	Bordering the Potomac River from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland, U.S.
Coordinates	38°53′59″N 77°03′28″W / 38.89972°N 77.05778°W / 38.89972; -77.05778
Area	19,586 acres (7,926 ha)
Built	1828 (1828)
Visitation	4,286,185 (2022)^[2]
Website	www.nps.gov/choh
NRHP reference No.	66000036^[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NMON	1961
Designated NHP	January 8, 1971

The canal and towpath trail extends along the Potomac River from the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland, a distance of 184.5 miles (296.9 km). In 2013, the path was designated as the first section of U.S. Bicycle Route 50.^[3][4] With over four million visitors in 2022, it is the most-visited unit that is designated a national historical park of the National Park Service.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Main article: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

 

The Cumberland basin at the canal's terminus in 2013. This area has been changed drastically and is almost unrecognizable compared to how it was during the canal's operating days

Construction on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (also known as "the Grand Old Ditch" or the "C&O Canal") began in 1828 and ended in 1850 when the canal reached Cumberland,^[5]: 1 far short of its intended destination of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Occasionally there was talk of extending the 184.5-mile canal: for example, an 1874 proposal to dig an 8.4-mile tunnel through the Allegheny Mountains,^[6] and there was a tunnel built to connect with the Pennsylvania canal.^[7] Even though the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) beat the canal to Cumberland by eight years, the canal was not entirely obsolete. Only in the mid-1870s did larger locomotives and the adoption of air brakes allow the railroad to set rates lower than the canal, sealing its fate.^[8]

The C&O Canal operated from 1831 to 1924 and served primarily to transport coal from the Allegheny Mountains to Washington D.C.^[9]: 6 The canal was closed in 1924, in part due to several severe floods that devastated the canal's financial condition.^[10]

Federal government purchases canal

 

Work on restoring Lock 16 on the canal in 1939

In 1938, the abandoned canal was obtained from the B&O Railroad by the United States in exchange for a loan from the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation.^[11] The government planned to restore it as a recreation area. Additionally, it was viewed as a project for employment for the jobless during the Great Depression. By 1940, the first 22 miles (35 km) of the canal were repaired and rewatered, from Georgetown to Violettes lock (Lock 23) and returned to operating condition by African-American enrollees with the Civilian Conservation Corps.^[12] The first Canal Clipper boat, giving mule-driven rides, began in 1941.^[13] It was later replaced by the John Quincy Adams in the 1960s.

The project was halted when the United States entered World War II and resources were needed elsewhere. In 1941, Harry Athey suggested to President Franklin Roosevelt that the canal could be converted into an underground highway or a bomb shelter with its roof for landing airplanes. The whole idea was deemed impractical due to the river's periodic flooding.^[14] In 1942, freshets destroyed the rewatered sections of the canal. National Park Service (NPS) official Arthur E. Demaray pressed that the canal from Dam #1 be restored, to supply water to the Dalecarlia Reservoir in case sabotage or bombing destroyed the normal conduits of water. Since this transformed the canal into a concern of national security, in 1942, the War Production Board approved the work.^[15] By 1943, Congress had funded the work, repairs were done, and the Park Service resumed boat trips in October 1943.^[16]

Congress expressed interest in developing the canal and towpath as a parkway. Because of the flooding from the 1920s to the 1940s, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building 14 dams, that would have permanently inundated 74 miles of towpath, as well as the Monocacy and Antietam aqueducts.^[17] Around 1945, the Corps wanted to remove Dam #8, which would destroy any hope of rewatering the canal above Dam #5, as well as put a levee around in the Cumberland area. Much of this was done, with the NPS cooperating with the Corps, since maintaining an operating canal all the way to Cumberland was too expensive, as well as wanting to preserve the western parts of the canal.^[18]

Creation of the national park

 

Park map

The Douglas hike

The idea of turning the canal over to automobiles was opposed by some, including United States Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas. In March 1954, Douglas led an eight-day hike of the towpath from Cumberland to D.C.^[11] 58 people participated in one part of the hike or another; nine, including Douglas, Merlo J. Pusey,^{[citation needed]} and Olaus Murie, hiked the full 184.5 miles (297 km). Afterwards, Douglas formed a committee, renamed in 1957 the C&O Canal Association, that drafted plans to preserve and protect the Canal.^[19] Douglas serving as the chairman.

Towpath

In 1958, the entire path was cleared for hiking and a 12-mile bicycle trail was built on the towpath, from Georgetown's Mule Bridge at 34th Street in Washington, DC to Widewater, a meander cutoff of the Potomac in Maryland.^[20] The bicycle trail was built by laying crushed blue stone over the muddy towpath and opened on November 22, 1958.^[21][22] Cyclists were biking the full route by 1960.^[23]

National monument, then national historical park

In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower made the canal a national monument under the Antiquities Act, but that hardened the opposition to making the canal a national park. There was some support for making the Potomac River a national river instead.^[24] Within ten years, the political climate had changed, and realizing that the national river plan was unsupportable, the idea of turning the canal into a historic park had little opposition. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Act ^[25] established the canal as a National Historical Park and President Richard Nixon signed it into law on January 8, 1971.^[24][26]

Floods of 1996

 

Before summer flooding (top) and after (bottom) in 1996

1996 saw two floods. After a blizzard in January, heavy rains washed away the snow and caused extreme flooding and run-off. The flood swept across 80 to 90 percent of the canal and towpath, damaging them and other park infrastructure. Volunteers helped repair the damage.

In September, Hurricane Fran caused more damage to the canal. Restoring the towpath and re-watering required much time, money, and volunteer effort.^[27]

Restoration efforts

Today, several organizations work to preserve and restore the park's beauty and history. The C&O Canal Trust,^[28] founded in 2007, is the official non-profit partner of the National Park Service. The C&O Canal Association is a volunteer organization established in 1954 to help conserve the natural and historical environment of the C&O Canal and the Potomac River Basin.^[29] Together they work to restore Canal infrastructure, fix eroded sections of the towpath, and re-water sections of the Canal to keep it beautiful for visitors and wildlife. They also educate the community about the Canal's history at the National Park Service's six visitor centers along the canal: Georgetown, Great Falls Tavern, Brunswick, Williamsport, Hancock, and Cumberland.^[30]

Current restoration and construction efforts include restoring and rewatering the Conococheague Aqueduct,^[31] restoring Locks 3 and 4,^[32] repairs at Great Falls (Lock 20) and Swain's Lock (Lock 21).^[33] A second phase of work at the Paw Paw tunnel started on May 13, 2019.^[34]

Today

 

Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center

Extent

The park includes nearly 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) in a strip along the Potomac River. A small portion of the towpath near Harpers Ferry National Historical Park doubles as a section of the Appalachian Trail.

The canal begins at its zero mile marker (accessible only via Thompson's Boat House), directly on the Potomac, opposite the Watergate complex.^[35]

In Allegany County, Maryland, the park includes the Western Maryland Railroad Right-of-Way, Milepost 126 to Milepost 160, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.^[1]

Flooding continues to threaten historical structures on the canal and attempts at restoration. The Park Service has re-watered portions of the canal, but the majority of the canal does not have water in it.

Usage

 

The canal in Georgetown in Spring 2019

Varied in its geography, the canal and its towpath along with the adjacent Potomac offers activities including running, hiking, biking, fishing, boating and kayaking, as well as rock climbing in certain locations. The Canal also offers a variety of wildlife and birdwatching opportunities.

The seven National Park Service visitor centers have displays and interpretive exhibits on the history of the canal.^[36] The park offers rides on two reproduction canal boats — the Georgetown and the Charles F. Mercer (named after the first president of the Canal corporation, and not the first boat on the canal named Charles F. Mercer) — during the spring, summer and autumn. The boats are pulled by mules, and park rangers in historical dress work the locks and boat while presenting a historical program.

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park receives around five million recreation visits annually.^[37] Access through the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center requires payment, but access anywhere else in the park is free.^[36] In January 2015, the National Park Service proposed adding entrance fees to virtually all access points along the towpath; the proposal was rescinded in February, amid backlash from communities along the canal.^[38]

On February 9, 1963, Robert F. Kennedy succeeded in hiking from Great Falls, Maryland to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia along the C&O Canal towpath as part of the "50 mile frenzy" created by his brother President John F. Kennedy. [1] In February 2013, FreeWalkers, Inc., a New Jersey-based non-profit, created the FreeWalkers Kennedy50 50-Mile walk along the C&O Canal towpath from Old Anglers Inn to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to commemorate RFK's historic walk and continues to be held annually.

Hiker biker campsites

 

Turtle Run Hiker Biker campsite

The National Park Service maintains a number of hiker/biker campsites, about every 5–7 miles (8–11 km) along the towpath.^[39] These are available for free on a first come first served basis. Each site has a water pump (mid-April to mid-November), picnic area, firepit, and latrine;^[39] nearest vehicular access points vary from 0.2 miles (0.3 km) to "remote".^[40] A list of hiker biker campsites is available from the NPS.^[39]

Other camping

 

Campground at Paw Paw

The C&O Canal NHP also offers tent and primitive RV campsites for individuals and group as large as 35.^[41] Not all campsites have all amenities; campsites may have some or all of parking, restrooms, picnic tables, boat ramp, and nearby shopping.^[41] Hiker-biker campsites are free of charge to use for a maximum of one night per trip.^[41] They are used under a first-come, first-served basis. As of December 1, 2016 all drive-in (car) campsites moved from a first-come, first served system to a reservation system on Recreation.gov.^[42] Group campsites are $40 during peak season and $20 during off season. Here is a list of the drive-in, reservation campsites: (data from NPS):^[39]

Towpath Mileage	Campsite	Type	Fee per Night	Comments
11.0	Marsden Tract	Group	$40/20	Permit required
69.9	Antietam Creek	Car	$20
110.4	McCoys Ferry	Car, Group	$20
140.9	Fifteenmile Creek	Car, Group	$20
156.1	Paw Paw Tunnel	Car, Group	$20
173.3	Spring Gap	Car, Group	$20

See also

• Bear Island
• Billy Goat Trail
• Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Association
• Great Falls of the Potomac River
• Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
• Olmsted Island

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. "Annual Park Ranking Report for Recreation Visits in: 2022". National Park Service. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
3. Vitale, Marty (October 28, 2013). (PDF). Denver, Colorado: Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 5, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
4. "New U.S. Bicycle Routes Approved in Maryland and Tennessee". adventurecycling.org. Missoula, Montana: Adventure Cycling Association. November 5, 2013. from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
5. Mackintosh, Barry (1991). C&O Canal: The Making of A Park. Washington, DC: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
6. Hahn, Pathway. 257
7. Davies, William E. (1999). The Geology and Engineering Structures of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal: An Engineering Geologist's Descriptions and Drawings (PDF). Glen Echo, Md.: C&O Canal Association. (PDF) from the original on July 25, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014. p. ix. Davies does not indicate if this tunnel was ever used, nor its location.
8. Davies, p. ix
9. Hahn, Thomas (1984). The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal: Pathway to the Nation's Capital. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1732-2.
10. National Park Service. "Canal Operations". Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park. Nps.gov. from the original on May 29, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
11. Lynch, John A. "Justice Douglas, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and Maryland Legal History". University of Baltimore Law Forum. 35 (Spring 2005): 104–125.
12. Donald R. Shaffer. "We are Again in the Midst of Trouble: Flooding on the Potomac River and the Struggle for the Sustainability of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1996" (PDF). [US Department of the Interior, National Park Service]. (PDF) from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2013. p. 71
13. . Archived from the original on June 21, 2013.
14. Shaffer, p. 70
15. Shaffer p. 73
16. Shaffer p. 76
17. Shaffer p. 78
18. Shaffer p. 79
19. "Associate Justice William O.Douglas". National Park Service. from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
20. "Canal's Path Cleared for Full Length". The Washington Post. September 6, 1958.
21. Carper, Elsie (November 23, 1958). "Group of 40 Cyclists Pioneers New 12-Mi. C&O Canal Path". The Washington Post.
22. Widewater (NPS) https://www.nps.gov/choh/learn/kidsyouth/widewater.htm
23. Jordan, Jane (March 20, 1960). "Bike Club to Take 180-Mile Spin". The Washington Post.
24. "The Battle to Save the Canal, Part V (from December 2011 Along The Towpath)" (PDF). Candocanal.org. (PDF) from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
25. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Act, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 91–664, January 8, 1971.
26. "16 USC Chapter 1, Subchapter LVI: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park". Office of Law Revision Council. from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
27. "Teams Assess C&O Canal Damage On the Potomac: Last Weekend's Floods Washed out Sections of the Historic Park's Towpath and Walkways. Many Areas Will Be Closed Indefinitely". The Baltimore Sun. January 26, 1996. from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
28. "The C&O Canal Trust: About Us". C&O Canal Trust. from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
29. "About the C&O Canal Association". C&O Canal Association. from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
30. "Plan Your Visit". NPS. from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
31. . www.nps.gov. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
32. "Construction Updates - Georgetown - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
33. "Repair Watered Structures Project - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
34. "Paw Paw Tunnel Scaling Project - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
35. Moeller, Gerard Martin and Weeks, Christopher. AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C. 4th ed. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8018-8468-3
36. "Basic Information". Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park - DC, MD, WV. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
37. "Chesapeake & Ohio Canal NHP: Annual Park Recreation Visitation (1904 - Last Calendar Year)". NPS Stats: National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
38. . The Journal. Hagerstown, Maryland. Associated Press. February 6, 2015. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
39. Park Planner: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (PDF), National Park Service, Department of the Interior, November 27, 2014, (PDF) from the original on December 11, 2014, retrieved November 27, 2014
40. . C&O Canal Bicycling Guide. Bike Washington. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
41. "Camping - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
42. "Recreation.gov recreation area details - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park - Recreation.gov". www.recreation.gov. from the original on October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2017.

• Butcher, Russell D. (1997). Exploring Our National Historic Parks and Sites. Roberts Rinehart Publishers
• National Park Service. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. 2004-09-25 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2010-05-11.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

 

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

• Chesapeake & Ohio Canal NHP - Official site
• C&O Canal Trust - official non-profit partner of the C&O Canal NHP
• - "About The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal"
• C&O Canal is part of the
• The Building of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal - A National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan