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From: "Bob McKinley" <>
Subject: Re: [MDWashin] 19th Century Travel
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2006 15:49:30 GMT


-- "JACQUELINE KALINAUSKAS" <> wrote:
........I don't know if one can travel the canal now in 2006 but in the
1940's and 1950's when I was growing up in D.C. and the Maryland
(Montgomery County) area we would often take a barge ride for a summer
afternoon and it was still pulled by horses or some beast of burden.
Beautiful area with lots of trees overhanging the Canal. Don't recall
how far up we rode it now.
Probably to Glenn Echo if any one on the list is familiar with the
area. But the original equipment was still in use to raise and lower
the water levels.
As a child I was quite impressed with the procedure but it sure took a
long time to move. Very slow and that is why the trains took over and
the canal was never a big success as the founders had hoped.

I am sure this is more information then you or anyone else wanted to know.
Sorry but hope it helped some.

Jackie in Idaho

Yes, Jackie, you can still ride the C&O Canal, but only for a short
distance in a canal boat. The canal has been re-watered in the
Georgetown area of D.C. and a motorized boat travels the canal for
about a mile. The entire towpath from Georgetown to Cumberland has
become a National Historical Site, operated by the National Park
Service. One can walk or bike the entire 184 miles. At Cumberland,
the abandoned Western Maryland RR is being converted into hiking-biking
rail-trail that you will be able to follow into downtown Pittsburgh,
Pa. This trail is nearly complete.

I was born in Hancock, very near the canal, back when it had
deteriorated into a mosquito-infested swamp. Today it is a beautiful
recreation corridor. My favorite way to see the entire canal is from
Amtraks Capital Limited. It only takes 6 hours from Pittsburgh to
D.C., whereas the bicycle takes 6 days.

For more information on the rail-trail we are building, visit
http://www.atatrail.org/.
An Internet search will bring up many sites on the C&O Canal and
Towpath. The official National Park Services is
http://www.nps.gov/choh/.
One of my favorites is the virtual tour of the canal at
http://canal.mcmullans.org/.

Happy trails,

Bob McKinley




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