Landscape Information
In 1785 George Washington founded the Potowmack Company to make the Potomac River more navigable for trade and westward expansion. The company was divested to the Chesapeake and Ohio Company in 1824, and construction began on an extended commercial waterway on the river’s northern shore. Completed in 1850 with a span of 184.5 miles from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) Canal was constructed under Chief Engineer Benjamin Wright and his successor Charles Fisk. A testament to the technological prowess of the period, the canal system comprised 74 lift locks, seven dams, masonry aqueducts, weirs, and 200 culverts, as well as lockhouses, gates, bridges and a 3000-foot long tunnel.
After years of declining use due to competition from the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, severe flooding in 1924 closed the canal’s operations. In 1938 the federal government purchased the right-of-way and worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps to transform the former-industrial landscape into a recreational greenway. Later, a proposal to turn portions of the canal into a scenic parkway met with public opposition which can be traced back to the 1940s. The efforts against the throughway peaked in 1954 with a highly publicized effort led by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Today the national park is defined by native woodlands and rugged rock outcroppings and 22 miles of canal complete with flowing water and operable locks. The former towpath has been adapted as a popular gravel walk for hikers and joggers. In 2007 the nonprofit C&O Canal Trust was founded to increase public engagement with the site’s historic, natural, and recreational resources. Beginning in 2017 the National Park Service, in partnership with Georgetown Heritage, restored locks 3 and 4, towpaths, and canal walls. In 1961 the canal was named a National Monument and in 1971 designated a National Historical Park.
