By John Roberson — In early October of 2023 my sweetheart and I left our Utah home to spend nine delightful days riding the C & O Canal Towpath, a 184-mile, National Park Service historical trail that follows the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. Along the way we experienced fine autumn weather, quiet paths and beautiful riverside scenery. We saw deer and turtles, herons and big black snakes, foggy mornings and lovely sunsets. We shared stories with other bicycle tourists and spent our nights camping in lovely hiker-biker sites along the river. And throughout the tour we were taken both by the ease of the route and by how “wild” the surrounding countryside seemed to us, despite the fact that the towpath passes through one of the more densely-populated parts of our nation.
For roughly 100 years the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, originally the brainchild of George Washington, provided for the transport by canal boats of goods and commodities between the two cities. Beginning in the 1820s, and continuing for 20-plus years, more than 70 stone locks and aqueducts were constructed, along with lock-houses for the families that operated the locks. Although the canal builders fell short of their original goal to connect Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, the portions that remain clearly reflect what was an impressive feat of labor and engineering. Canal traffic on the C & O declined with the steady rise of more efficient railroads and stopped completely in 1924 […]
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