Knowra Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is a 19th-century waterway running along the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland. It carried coal and other freight and now forms a national historical park.
Canal lock : A gated chamber that raises or lowers boats between stretches of water at different elevations. A sequence of locks lifted canal boats more than 600 feet from Georgetown to Cumberland.
National Road : The first federally funded highway, built west from Maryland beginning in 1811. Its westward route and the canal’s proposed route reflected competing plans for linking the East and Ohio country.
Benjamin Wright : An American civil engineer known for surveying and designing major canals, including the Erie Canal. He was the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company’s first chief engineer.
Cumberland, Maryland : A city in western Maryland at the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The canal reached Cumberland in 1850, its final western endpoint.
Paw Paw Tunnel : A 3,118-foot canal tunnel through a ridge in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. The tunnel let the canal bypass a long, difficult bend in the Potomac River.
Potowmack Company : An 18th-century company that improved the Potomac River for navigation under George Washington’s leadership. Its limited river improvements preceded the more ambitious canal project along the same corridor.
William Gibbs McNeill : An American civil engineer who worked on canals and railroads in the early 19th century. He succeeded Benjamin Wright as chief engineer during the canal’s early construction.
Georgetown, Washington, D.C. : A historic neighborhood in Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River. Georgetown’s busy port served as the canal’s eastern terminus and a center for its trade.
Monocacy Aqueduct : A stone aqueduct carrying the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal over the Monocacy River near Frederick, Maryland. Its seven arches carried canal boats across a major tributary without descending to the river.
George Washington : The first president of the United States and a central figure in the nation’s founding. Before becoming president, he promoted Potomac navigation as a route to western trade.
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