Summer of 21 - #26 - Maryland Road Trip -- Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Williamsport

May 19th, 2021 - Part 4 of 4   

We left Antietam and headed through Sharpsburg to Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park at Williamsport.

Sharpsburg

Williamsport

C&O Canal Williamsport

I love canals.  I'm not sure why but maybe the canal boats have a mystery about them to me.

This canal is 184.5 miles long and goes from Georgetown in Washington, DC, to Cumberland in Maryland. 

I chose Williamsport Visitor Center as the best place for our first visit to the canal. 

It is very close to being the half way point of the canal and it had a lot of interesting features. Here's an extract from the website.

"For the first time since 1924, the historic Conococheague Aqueduct is fully operational, allowing a canal boat to pass over the Conococheague Creek. Williamsport is now the only place in North America where visitors can view a variety of canal features in one place, including a lift lock and refurbished blockhouse, a railroad lift bridge, a Bollman iron truss bridge, a canal turning basin and warehouse, and now a watered aqueduct."

The visitor center was closed and there were no rangers around to ask questions or get a map, so we figured it out by ourselves. 😀 I had read before we came about the different things here, so knew what we needed to see, we just had to find them. 

I found this link to the C&O Canal Williamsport Walking Tour which is an excellent guide and we did everything except the walk to the locks. I've included excerpts, in italics, as descriptions below.  

We started at the Railroad Lift Bridge which has been converted into a pedestrian bridge.

"In 2016 the National Park Service had the lift bridge permanently raised.  Staircases on either end of the bridge were recently constructed so pedestrians could use the railway bridge to cross the canal and access the towpath on the other side."

Going up and over

The picture below was taken as we were standing on the bridge looking up. 

                     

 As we were crossing the bridge we took this picture of the Bollman Truss Bridge. 

Bollman Truss Bridge

"Just a little farther down the towpath from the lift bridge is the Bollman Bridge, named after the man who designed it, Wendell Bollman. It was built in 1879 and is one of only a few surviving bridges in the United States built by Bollman, one of the pioneers of iron bridge building.

Hmmm, now my brain went into memory mode at this last statement, and I remembered learning about the Iron Bridge in England when I was in school. Yes, a few cobwebs were disturbed to reach that long ago memory!! 😂 The Iron Bridge was completed in 1779 and opened in 1781, a 100 years before this bridge!! Here's a LINK to that piece of history. 

Looking in the opposite direction from the bridge was the aqueduct. I was amazed at the amount of algae on the canal. I'm guessing it's because a lot of locks have been closed due to covid and therefore there hasn't been any canal traffic here. I could be wrong, ha!!ha!! 

        

After we crossed the bridge we took this picture showing the bridge from another angle.

We walked down toward the aqueduct and took the picture below looking back at the railroad lift bridge. Here's an excerpt from the walking tour: 

"This is a railroad bridge that lifted up when canal boats came through and lowered when trains came through, very similar to lift-type draw bridges still in use today where roads cross boating channels.  The bridge was built in 1923 by the Western Maryland Railway.  It is the only such bridge on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. When the canal closed in 1924, the lift mechanism was no longer needed and the bridge remained in its lowered position. The bridge was used by the railroad until 1970."

Bridge in Raised Position 

On our walk toward the aqueduct we passed the canal turning basin, the Cushwa's warehouse and a brick power station.

 

"The warehouse was built before the canal, somewhere between 1790 and 1810. Once the canal opened, Victor Cushwa purchased the place as part of a partnership with Charles Embry, but by the 1880s he was the sole owner. Cushwa used the warehouse to hold coal, brick, iron, cement, and plaster. Canal boats could pull up to the warehouse doors and load or unload cargo."

"Located just to the left is the brick power station used by a trolley that ran from Williamsport to Hagarstown. The first service began in 1896. This was a steam-powered station that drew water from the adjacent Conococheague Creek to generate electricity. However, the trolley line grew so quickly that a year later a bigger power station was built in Hagerstown, and the Williamsport station was converted into a warehouse for use by Cushwa, who had donated the land to the trolley company to begin with."

Continuing our walk we read the informational signs that were there telling more history. 

We eventually got to the aqueduct. Here's some history:

"Construction on the Conococheague Aqueduct took place between 1833 and 1835. It is a three-arch aqueduct, and one of the longer of eleven aqueducts on the canal at 210 feet. The three arches support the weight of the canal bed."

"In 1920 one side of the aqueduct retaining wall collapsed when a canal boat busted through and fell into Conococheague Creek. Realizing that the canal was soon going to be out of business, the B&O Railroad, which owned the canal at the time, built a wooden wall to keep the water flowing down the aqueduct instead of making a permanent repair from stone. Another major flood did severe damage to the canal in 1924, and it was decided to cease operations. The wooden retaining wall eventually rotted away.

The Conococheague Creek Aqueduct remained without the retaining wall until a restoration by the National Park Service was completed in July 2019(it started in August 2017). It is now the only aqueduct within Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical park that is in operating condition. Visitors can actually travel across it as part of a Launch Boat Ride that departs from the Williamsport Visitor Center during the summer."

We would definitely have done the boat ride but unfortunately they had been cancelled due to Covid. I read that in some places there are also mule drawn barges that go along other parts of the canal, again cancelled due to covid. I'm sure we'll do that if we get to that part of the canal another year.

Bryan going on the aqueduct

walking along beside the aqueduct

Standing on the aqueduct looking over the side

and looking over at the stone side of the aqueduct

Geese at the end of the aqueduct

River going under a road bridge

We walked back the way we came. We saw this running across the field but not sure what it was.  There was no-one about but it was very quick. 

Bryan coming back over the bridge

That was the last stop of the day and we were exhausted but we still had an hour drive home. We did stop and get takeout for dinner.

I took some pictures of the countryside on our way home.

This covered bridge was close to our campground and we went through it several times during our stay.  Today was one of those times.

G. Donald McLaughlin Memorial Covered Bridge

Map of todays travels

We got home safely after our long exhausting but amazing day out. We'll need a couple of days to recover from it but I think we may only get one, as someone on our travels today mentioned Harpers Ferry. I have wanted to go there but thought we might not have time to fit it in. However, after being told about it today, I really want to try and fit it in. We'll see!!