Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Headquarters, Williamsport

Almost 80 of the 184 miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal run through Wasthington County, paralleling the Potomac River along Maryland's southern boundry.  The canal and towpath make a curious connection between past and present since its heyday as a recreational facility looks to overtake the duration of its heyday as a working canal.

The towpath was opened to hiking throughout its length in the 1950s, but only in 1971 did President Nixon sign the law making it part of the National Parks Service. So, the C&O Canal Trust will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021. The C&O Canal's towpath has provided the setting for family outings and many kinds of recreation, as well as allowing glimpses into the early nineteenth century burgeoning of interstate transportation and commerce between the East Coast and the first "West" of the United States, the Trans-Appalachian region. 

Recently The C&O Canal Headquarters moved to Williamsport (see right), a location next to the Cushwa Basin and the rebuilt Conococheague Aqueduct that allowed canal boats to pass over the Conococheague Creek. The cluster of historical buildings also includes Trolley Barn and Power Station that powered the Hagerstown Railway at the turn of the twentieth century, the Bollman bridge, one of the oldest surviving iron railroad bridges, and the railroad lift bridge used to accommodate both railroad and C&O traffic.

In the colonial era people anticipated that the Potomac River had the potential to link the Trans-Appalachian west to the East Coast, and plans to make the river navigable date back to at least 1749. The Seven Years War (of which the "French and Indian War" was a part), the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars (of which the War of 1812 was a part) demonstrated the strategic as well as the commercial advantages of investing in a quicker route leading from the Chesapeake Bay over the mountains toward the Ohio Territory.

The Pawtomack Company organized in 1785 included such enthusiastic supporters as George Washington and Maryland's first independence-period governor, Thomas Johnson. While the company did complete several side canals that got around impassable falls, financial costs, interstate disputes, weather-related closures ended with the collapse of the company.  The new Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, approved by Congress in 1825 would successfully realize the original ambition to create a canal that connected east and west.  However, the success of the further northen route via the Erie Canal, the battle with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for right of way, construction issues and flooding delayed completion until 1850 and cut into profits from the working portions of the canal. Ultimately the B&O Railroad beat the C&O Canal both to Cumberland and to profits.