The C&O Canal: From Great National Project to National Historical Park Book

Already obsolete by the time construction finished in 1850, the C&O Canal nevertheless remained in operation for seventy-four years, until 1924. By then, several devastating floods had sent the canal into receivership, and the canaller's way of life vanished due to competition from other forms of transportation and shipping, lack of funds, and natural disasters.

Yet in 1828, when the young nation depended on its waterways, the C&O Canal served to link the port of Georgetown with Pittsburgh, thereby connecting the Chesapeake Bay and the Ohio River. The canal's inauguration realized the dream of speculators such as George Washington and others to connect the coastal plain, via the Potomac River, with the western frontier.

Nowadays history and nature are jointly preserved along the canal's length. In "The C&O Canal," Dorothy Camagna's superb photography and narrative present a compelling account of the canal's mission, structures, and unique way of life. From tidewater Georgetown to Cumberland, the canal's ultimate terminus in the Allegheny Plateau, "The C&O Canal" brilliantly illustrates the allure of both the former waterway and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.