Rustic Roads & Waterways
Sunset at Widewater on the C & O Canal
The C & O Canal : History carved a lasting place of recreational beauty in our environment
by pamela baldwin I Photos by wib Midleton
Everyone knows that George Washington became the first President of the United States after leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War with England , but today few area residents are aware of an earlier achievement of Washington ’ s : initiating the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio ( C & O ) Canal along the Potomac River .
The Potomac was the principal trading route between the early mid-Atlantic settlements and those farther to the west , particularly the area that is now Ohio with its ample timber , furs and farmland . Before he became President , Washington created The Patowmack Company in 1785 to make navigational improvements to the river system . He envisioned a series of canal locks adjacent to the river that could be filled with river water when their gates were opened to let boats pass through .
The first effort , a short skirting canal at Great Falls , Virginia , to enable boats to bypass that turbulent , rock-filled part of the river , was built by laborers both enslaved and free . It was briefly used but never functioned as a boat route beyond those very early days . What remains of the project is still visible today in Virginia ’ s Great Falls Park .
A far larger canal system was envisioned for the Maryland side of the river as a route west , but Washington died in 1799 and did not live to see the start of its construction or its completion in the summer of 1850 . John Quincy Adams , however , was present for its groundbreaking in 1828 . Named the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , but most often referred to as the C & O Canal then as now , the first 22-mile section was completed in half-mile segments and opened in 1831 .
President Adams arranged
26 plenty I Spring sowing 2022