Cushwa Basin C and O canal Black and White

Cushwa's Coal and Brick warehouse reflects in the water of the turning basin on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Williamsport Maryland. Williamsport... more

by Joshua House

Title

Cushwa Basin C and O canal Black and White

Artist

Joshua House

Medium

Photograph

Description

Cushwa's Coal and Brick warehouse reflects in the water of the turning basin on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Williamsport Maryland. Williamsport is nearly 100 miles from Georgetown in Washington D.C. by canal and was a major port along the route to Cumberland. It was a few miles below Williamsport that the Army of Northern Virginia retreated south of the Potomac following their defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was created with the idea of connecting the City of Washington and Chesapeake Bay with the Ohio River in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The canal took far longer to build and had massive overruns then had been planned, and was never built beyond Cumberland Maryland. In fact as a percentage of the gross national product, its construction cost as much as the Apollo program. Eventually it was bought by its primary competitor, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, who in turn sold it to the United States government in the 1930s. It became a National Historical Park in 1972 and is now a major hiking and biking trail, stretching 184.5 miles between Georgetown and Cumberland Maryland.

Uploaded

December 18th, 2012