C & O Canal and Fort Frederick

MON August 2

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was built to link the east to the west, east = Georgetown MD, west = Cumberland MD and the coal fields. And as usual the Visitors Center, a pre-Revolutionary War building, and two videos. The first was a 9-minute 1917 black & white silent movie regarding canal operations and an old Charles Kuralt “On The Road” about revitalizing the canal. The 184 mile tow path was rescued in the 1950s by Justice William O. Douglas. Today it is a favorite biking and hiking area and preserves a part of our history.

As a surveyor in Virginia, before there was a West VA, George Washington conceived of the canal and was the first president of the Patowmack, now the river is spelled Potomac, Canal Company. The Canal was started in 1828 and completed in 1850 and was obsolete almost from the start because of the railroad but it was in operation until 1924. Part of the Canal National Historic Park is the Paw Paw Tunnel a 3,118 feet long canal tunnel, which was built to bypass the Paw-Paw bends, a six-mile stretch of the Potomac River containing five horseshoe bends, it was dug by hand. I drove over to the tunnel and did a 2 1/2 mile hike to, through, and return; oh by the way, when was the last time you changed the batteries in the flashlight you carry in your car, I was sweating it in the tunnel.

After the canal and tunnel I headed over to Fort Frederick, the last remaining stone fort from the 1754-1763 French and Indian War. The fort is a Maryland State Park and a National Historic Landmark. The fort was erected in 1756 to protect settlers. The fort is massive and constructed of stone; most other forts of the period were built of wood. The fort was abandoned in 1759, used again during the Revolutionary War as a prison for Hessian and British troops and again during the Civil War Union troops spent time at the fort in 1861. An early use of Federal Stimulus Funds was seen in 1934 when a CCC company was sent to the fort to restore it to park status

This is a nice area however I have not been able to have cell phone service for the last two days so Mark if you are reading this I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon, late afternoon I think.