A report on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Canal boats waiting to be unloaded in Georgetown.

Shepherdstown Bridge over the Potomac River, viewed from the Maryland side, with the bed of the C&O Canal visible in the foreground.

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.

Lock 38 of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and ruins of a bridge across the Potomac River at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, ca. 1861–1865 (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

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

WV 45 westbound heading out of Shepherdstown

Boat construction yard in Cumberland, MD

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

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

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

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

Culvert #30 lets Muddy Branch under the canal

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

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

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

The portion of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal along the Maryland side of the Potomac River across from Shepherdstown was built during the 1830s.

- Shepherdstown, West Virginia

In 1836, the canal was used by canal packets as a Star Route to carry mail from Georgetown to Shepherdstown.

- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

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Potomac River

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The Potomac River drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay.

The Potomac River in Washington, D.C., with Arlington Memorial Bridge in the foreground and Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia in the background

Map showing the five geological provinces through which the Potomac River flows

The North Branch between Cumberland, Maryland, and Ridgeley, West Virginia, in 2007

Canoers at Hanging Rocks on the South Branch in the 1890s

Confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah at Harpers Ferry

View southwest across the tidal Potomac River from the south end of Cobb Island Road on Cobb Island, Charles County, Maryland

Tundra swans were the predominant species of swan on the Potomac River when the Algonquian tribes dwelled along its shores, and continue to be the most populous variety today.

View of the Potomac River from George Washington's birthplace in Westmoreland County, Virginia

Sunset over the Potomac near Mount Vernon

Map of the Potomac River and its environs circa 1862 by Robert Knox Sneden.

The Potomac River surges over the deck of Chain Bridge during the historic 1936 flood. The bridge was so severely damaged by the raging water, and the debris it carried, that its superstructure had to be re-built; the new bridge was opened to traffic in 1939. (This photograph was taken from a vantage point on Glebe Road in Arlington County, Virginia. The houses on the bluffs in the background are located on the Potomac Palisades of Washington, DC.)

Eutrophication in the Potomac River is evident from this bright green water in Washington, D.C., caused by a dense bloom of cyanobacteria, April 2012

This chart displays the Annual Mean Discharge of the Potomac River measured at Little Falls, Maryland for Water Years 1931–2017 (in cubic feet per second). Source of data: USGS

After an absence lasting many decades, the American Shad has recently returned to the Potomac.

Several hundred bottle-nosed dolphins live six months of the year (from mid-April through mid-October) in the Potomac. Depicted here, a mother with her young.

Eastern Box Turtles are frequently spotted along the towpath of the C&O Canal.

The South Branch near South Branch Depot, West Virginia

Confluence of the Cacapon River (barely visible) with the Potomac

Oblique air photo, facing southwest, of the Potomac River flowing through water gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Virginia on the left, Maryland on the right, West Virginia in upper right, including Harpers Ferry (partially obscured by Maryland Heights of Elk Ridge Mountain) at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

The Great Falls of the Potomac, viewed from the Virginia bank of the river (Engraving based on an aquatint drawn by George Jacob Beck in 1802)

View of the Potomac River, Analostan Island, Georgetown, and, in the distance, buildings of the nascent City of Washington. (Engraving based on an 1801 watercolor by George Jacob Beck)

Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., viewed from across the Tidal Basin of the Potomac

The Pentagon, looking northeast with the Potomac in the distance

East Branch of the Potomac (now called the Anacostia River) near its confluence with the mainstem Potomac in Washington. (Watercolor drawn in 1839 by Augustus Kollner)

Potomac River seen while landing at Reagan National Airport

View northeast down the North Branch Potomac River from the Gorman-Gormania Bridge (U.S. Route 50) between Gormania, Grant County, West Virginia and Gorman, Garrett County, Maryland

The North Branch Potomac River near Piedmont, WV

The South Branch Potomac River near South Branch Depot, WV

The South Branch of the Potomac River at Millesons Mill, WV

Potomac River Watershed in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland

This stretch encompasses the section of the Potomac River from the confluence of its North and South Branches through Opequon Creek near Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal operated along the banks of the Potomac in Maryland from 1831 to 1924 and also connected Cumberland to Washington, D.C. This allowed freight to be transported around the rapids known as the Great Falls of the Potomac River, as well as many other, smaller rapids.