The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I had been making a lot of photographs the past 6 months. The bulk of that new work -- film and digital -- has been made along the C & O Canal. The Canal runs from Georgetown, in Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD, 185 miles along the Potomac River. In its day the canal provided coal, primarily, as well as other goods, to the nascent capital.

Mile marker 0 with the infamous Watergate through the trees and the Kennedy Center (r) in the background.

I lived in Washington for 5 years in the early 80s. I knew there was a Canal Street in Georgetown. It was near a music club I used to visit. I knew, vaguely, that the street was named for a canal that used to operate nearby in the 19^th century. (The Canal began services in 1831 and ceased operation in 1924. It was declared a National Historical Park in 1961.)

The canal in Georgetown

I likely even walked over it or beside it on one of my excursions, but I have no recollection of even pausing to take note of its existence.

But that changed this past January when my wife and I were out exploring western Maryland on a beautifully overcast, and intermittently snowy day. Driving along a state maintained country road 10 or 15 miles south of Frederick, we came across a small, unadorned sign indicating a right turn would take us to the Monacacy Aquaduct. Having no idea what that was, we took the turn. An aquaduct? In Maryland?

That road to the right was gravel, a little bit in need of repair, and approximately one lane wide. It reminded me a little bit of driving in Ireland both by its lack of breadth as well as its unnerving quality, especially now with snow falling and no way to turn around if the road got worse.

We drove past the open fields of an active dairy farm, then through a patch of woods until the road and our little adventure ended at a small parking lot, just big enough to turn around and leave if the aquaduct turned out to be less than photogenic. It was not. I was enchanted. Love at first sight.

The Monacacy Aquaduct, at mile marker 42.2 on the C&O Canal.