First of all . . . SORRY! to those of you that were expecting photos of Antietam battlefields and from the Blueridege, Skyline Drive. We intended to go up to the Skyline, but both mornings it was pouring when we set out to do that, so we stuck to the Shenandoah Valley. Then after we started riding the C&O towpath, we were having such a great time that we skipped going off to Antietam.
Check out more about the C&O towpath on the web, but here is how it works. Before the days of rail transport, enterprising people created a canal system from Washington DC to Cumberland MD. Either horses, mules, or strong cyclists like Shirley here, would pull barges along.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal ran from Washington DC to Cumberland MD. paralleling the Potomac River. Most of the heavy shipping originated from Cumberland. Boatmen carrying coal, lumber, grain and cement made their way to Washington DC where their cargoes were unloaded.
The lifeblood of the canal was its people - the canal builders, boatmen, mule drivers and families who worked on the canal.
Mules powered the heavy cargo boats by walking along the towpath. The canal had a series of structures for the boats to pass through or over - including lift locks, a tunnel, aqueducts, bridges and culverts.
It was the duty of workers who lived in the houses at the locks, any time of day or night, to operate the gates of the lock to either raise or lower barges. It must have been a lonely life.
On Independence say, July 28th, 1928, both the Chesapeake and Ohio canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad broke ground. The finish line for these companies was the Ohio River. The prizes were markets for coal, lumber and farm goods.
The canal followed the Potomac to Cumberland MD, gaining 605 ft. in elevation. In 1850 the canal finally reached Cumberland, the railroad had already arrived, 8 years earlier. Although it never did link with the Ohio River, over the eastern continental divide, for 74 years the canal provided an outlet for local products and labour, and helped build Cumberland into Maryland's second largest city.
Eventually the railroad won out and the canals were left to nature. They survived quite well, being made from huge, solid stone blocks.
In places, the canal has brown over or turned into somebody's lawn.
There is plenty to see along the side trails leading from the canal.
Small hydroelectric stations are located at several points along the canal.
An unused mill.
Beautiful views for all 210 kms or so that we rode.
Going North, on the right is the canal. This is the Potomac river which runs all the way to the left of the C&O towpath.
Here across the Potomac from Harper's Ferry WV, we began our C&O towpath ride towards Cumberland MD.
Shirley is getting spoiled on all these riding trails, away from all the traffic.
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