The C&O Canal is indisputably one of America’s premier national parks, though far too few people are aware of the Park’s resources, historic and ecological significance, or potential. It is for good reason it has become known as a “gem hidden
in plain sight.”
Its enormous popularity—with more annual visits than all but a handful of national parks, even Yellowstone— is due in large part to the accessibility afforded by its distinctive ribbon-like configuration. The Park stretches for 184 ½ miles along the eastern bank of the Potomac River, from Georgetown in Washington, DC, to Cumberland, Maryland, yet in many places it is no more than 50 yards wide.
Most of the three million visitors come to enjoy its myriad recreational opportunities, whether it’s to stroll, hike, birdwatch, ride horses, fish, bicycle, canoe, kayak, or sometimes even ski and skate. But to view the Canal as merely a place to exercise is to miss so much of what makes it unique. From an ecological standpoint, the park is of incalculable value to the health of the Potomac River (the source of most of the region’s drinking water) and, by extension, the Chesapeake Bay.
Yet it is the historical resources within the park that are most extraordinary. The C&O Canal has over 1,300 historic structures in various states of repair. To put this into context, they account for fully 5% of all historic structures within the entire National Park System. No exaggeration is required to state that within its 20,000 acres, the park tells the story of 19th and 20th century America. While it obviously provides a remarkable glimpse into the history of the canal era and westward expansion, it is equally valuable, though far less appreciated, as a repository of the history of prehistoric and Native American settlement, the Civil War and slavery, immigration, industrial development, the New Deal, and the conservation movement. All are stories
waiting to be told.