A report on Alexandria, Virginia and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Map of Alexandria County (1878), including what is now Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. Map includes the names of property owners at that time. City boundaries roughly correspond with Old Town.

Canal boats waiting to be unloaded in Georgetown.

Slave ship taking on slaves at the Alexandria waterfront in 1836. Alexandria's slave trade made Virginia a more pro-slavery state after retrocession.

Low-angle bird's-eye view of central Washington toward the west and northwest with The Capitol in foreground. The Canal is visible running along the mall.

Map of Alexandria showing the forts that were constructed to defend Washington during the Civil War

C&O Canal in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

A bird's eye view of Alexandria from the Potomac in 1863. Fort Ellsworth is visible on the hill in the center background.

Boat construction yard in Cumberland, MD

Child laborers working at a glass factory in Alexandria, 1911. Photo by Lewis Hine.

Map of Terminus in Cumberland in the mid 1890s. Yellow dots indicate modern highways as well as current (2013) location of Canal basin.

Confederate Memorial on George Washington Memorial Parkway (circa 1920)

Register of waybills in the Cumberland Office, in 1858. Each canal boat had to have a waybill, even if empty, for passage through the canal. Fines were levied for lack of a waybill.

5 and 10 dollar notes, from C&O Canal company

First city library location within an apothecary shop

Alexandria VA, Hoffman Towne Center, Looking Northeast

Great Falls feeder culvert (no longer used) indicated by yellow arrow(14.08 mi), and Lock 18 (R).

Alexandria waterfront, along the Potomac River

An informal overflow. The towpath dips, allowing water to flow over it. Note the boards in the background for people to walk on.

Hoffman Town Center, a mixed-use retail and office development in the Eisenhower Valley

One of the many restaurants that line King Street in Old Town

Old Town Alexandria in March 2003, as seen from the observation deck of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.

Culvert #30 lets Muddy Branch under the canal

Alexandria Torpedo Factory (waterfront side)

A steamboat on the C&O Canal. Note the steering wheel and the smokestack on this boat

Children tethered to canal boat. This photo was probably taken in one of the Cumberland basins.

Model interior of a C&O Canal freight boat

Entrance to Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria campus

Recent view of the 9 mile level (between 33 and 34 miles) where the ghosts were reported to haunt.

Beatley Central Library in Alexandria, VA

Monocacy aqueduct in 2011, where the ghost of a robber could allegedly be seen on moonless nights

George Washington Masonic National Memorial and elevated Blue Line Metro tracks seen from a high-rise on Eisenhower Avenue

Southbound Amtrak train at Alexandria's Union Station

I-95/I-495 (the Capital Beltway) in Alexandria

As competition grew with the port of Georgetown and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal fostered development on the north side of the Potomac River, Alexandria's economy stagnated; at the same time, residents had lost any representation in Congress and the right to vote, and were disappointed with the negligible economic benefit (on the Alexandria side) of being part of the national capital.

- Alexandria, Virginia

In 1843, the Potomac Aqueduct Bridge was built near the present-day Francis Scott Key Bridge to connect the canal to the Alexandria Canal, which led to Alexandria, Virginia.

- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

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Map of Washington, D.C., with Georgetown highlighted in maroon.

Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)

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Historic neighborhood and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River.

Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel, designed by James Renwick Jr. in 1850, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bank on the corner of M Street & Wisconsin Avenue

The Old Stone House, built 1765, is the oldest house in Washington, D.C.

Georgetown around 1862. Overview of the C&O Canal, Aqueduct Bridge at right, and unfinished Capitol dome in the distant background.

Sailing vessels docked at the Georgetown waterfront, c. 1865

Children playing on sidewalk in Georgetown during the Great Depression, Carl Mydans, 1935

The Washington Harbour complex located on the Potomac River. Healy Hall is visible in the background.

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School

Francis Scott Key Bridge across the Potomac River, connecting Georgetown to Rosslyn, Virginia

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal passes through Georgetown.

Enlargeable diagram of Washington area trolley lines:
Orange = Washington, Arlington & Mount Vernon Electric Railway.
Blue = Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railway (WA&FC).
Yellow = Nauck (Fort Myer) line of WA&FC.
Light green = W&OD Bluemont Division.
Dark green = W&OD Great Falls Division.

After the establishment of the federal capital, Georgetown became an independent municipal government within the District of Columbia, of which there were three: Alexandria, D.C., Georgetown, D.C., and Washington, D.C. Georgetown, D.C., was in the new Washington County, D.C.; the District's other county was Alexandria County, D.C. (now Arlington County, Virginia and the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia).

Construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal began in July 1828, to link Georgetown to Harper's Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia after 1863).