Work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began in 1828, the same day construction started on its rival, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The canal was begun in 1828, the same day that construction started on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, its commercial competitor. The goal was to build a waterway from Georgetown to the Ohio River at Pittsburgh — five hundred miles through the Allegheny Mountains — opening the resources of the interior to the markets of the East. It was based on the engineering principles of England's canal system and was expected to transform American commerce.
The canal made it one hundred eighty-four and a half miles, to Cumberland, Maryland. The mountains proved too steep. The railroad got there first, faster and cheaper. The C&O Canal never reached the Ohio River. It went bankrupt repeatedly, was damaged by floods repeatedly, and finally closed in 1924.
During its operation, mule-drawn boats called freighters hauled coal from the Allegheny mines down to the Georgetown terminus, where it was transferred to ships on the Potomac. Entire families lived on the boats. The mule driver — often a child — walked along the towpath beside you now.
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas famously hiked the entire towpath in 1954 to publicize the canal when it was threatened with being converted to a road. His hike is credited with saving it. The canal is now a National Historic Park.
The towpath stretches one hundred eighty-four miles into the Maryland countryside from where you stand.