The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (C & O Canal) is a national historic park that dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

At that time Georgetown and Alexandria were major ports for distribution of tobacco, grains, whiskey, furs, timber and other items.

Cumberland, Maryland was a key producer of these items and the 184-mile stretch of the Potomac River was the main transportation route between Cumberland and the Chesapeake Bay.

The waterfalls on the Potomac, especially the Great Falls and the Little Falls, made boat transportation impossible.

To solve this problem, engineers created the C & O Canal, a system with locks that ran parallel to the river to provide a way to move goods down the river by boat.

The original plan was to extend the canal to the Ohio River, but that never happened because the success of the Baltimore & Ohio (B & O) Railroad eventually put the canal out of use.

The canal operated from 1828 – 1924. Hundreds of original structures, including locks and lockhouses still stand and remind us of the history of the canal.

Since 1971 the canal has been a national park, providing several great places to enjoy the outdoors.

The C & O Canal National Historic Park starts in Georgetown and stretches for 13 miles to Great Falls Park. There are visitor centers at each end of the canal.