Volunteering to help the park: A work crew installs a bench near Great Falls in 2016.
Supporting park projects: Catoctin Aqueduct after collapse in 1973
Supporting park projects: Catoctin Aqueduct after restoration effort in 2011
Exploring history and nature: Sideling Hill Creek Aqueduct as viewed from the Western Maryland Rail Trail.
Protecting the canal since 1954: The association opposes Georgetown University’s plan to build a large boathouse in the park
Protecting the canal since 1954: The association opposes Georgetown University’s plan to build a large boathouse in the park
Exploring history and nature: Hikers gather at Fifteen Mile Creek Aqueduct in 2018.
Protecting the canal since 1954: Justice Douglas and eight others pause during their famous hike, which publicized the canal in 1954
Exploring history and nature: Ranger provides interpretation for hikers at Seneca Stone Cutting Mill in 2020.
Exploring history and nature: Hikers marvel at a large specimen during a tree identification walk in 2012
Volunteering to help the park: Association volunteer attaches plaque to newly installed bench in 2018.
Exploring history and nature: Association members participate in the last day of the 2009 Thru Hike at Great Falls
Volunteering to help the park: Association member helps install an identification sign at Landers in 2011
Exploring history and nature: Hikers gather at Dam 5 in 2019.
Protecting the canal since 1954: Justice Douglas and others rally against replacing the canal with a highway.
Volunteering to help the park: Association members repaint picnic tables at Swains Lock
Volunteering to help the park: Association volunteers assemble picnic table in 2018.
Short but critical, the Alexandria Canal only extended about 7 miles connecting the Alexandria waterfront to the C&O Canal in Georgetown, as seen in the map on the left. Using a system of four locks connecting three basins, it raised canal boats up about 38 feet over the course of about four city blocks. From there, boats entered a large turning basin that directed them north towards Arlington where they eventually crossed the Potomac River via the Aqueduct Bridge. The map on the right shows these narrow locks and broader basins. Read the latest canal updates at alexandriava.gov/go/6378.
Notice from the Virginia Canals & Navigation Society THE PATOWMACK RIVER ATLAS: Over the years, the Virginia Canals & Navigations Society (www.vacanals.org/) has published a series of annotated historical atlases covering the once-navigable rivers in and around Virginia. The atlas on the Potomac focuses on the C&O Canal, and on the river from Westernport, MD down to Alexandria, VA. We have done as much as we can, so we are looking for a C&O Canal buff to be the Chief Editor and polish up the annotations along the canal, and to work with river experts such as Dan Guzy to find and mark the sluices, wing dams, fish dams, and other river navigation sites. It would be a joint project for our canal societies. If you’d like to finish the Patowmack River Atlas, please contact us at the Virginia Canal Museum, 3806 South Amherst Hwy, Madison Heights, VA 24572, [email protected], or 252-301-1747 so we can get together to go over what we’ve got. POC: Bill Trout
Map credit: Library of Congress
I would love to see the path of the Alexandria Canal superimposed on a Google Earth map. Can someone in the group who has a similar interest (and skill) do this?
Interested!
The passing of the gavel. At yesterday’s C&O Canal Association’s Annual Meeting, Arthur Tsien was elected president and assumed the mantle of leadership that descends from the late Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas’s historic efforts to save the C&O Canal from development. Congratulations to Arthur, and thanks to outgoing president Bill Holdsworth for his many years of faithful service and his continued service on various committees.
Thanks & Congratulations 🎊
Thank you Bill and Arthur!
Bill, Thanks for your many years of service. Arthur, Congratulations and thank you for accepting this position.
Congratulations to both of you.
Congratulations Arthur and many thanks to Bill for his years of leadership and continuing to support COCA in many ways. Kudos to Jonnie for planning an enjoyable meeting and meal.
Thanks for your service Tom