Licking Creek Aqueduct on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

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The Licking Creek Aqueduct is located at Mile 116 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. It cannot be accessed by vehicle. The closest parking area is at Lock 51. The aqueduct is 6.7 miles downstream. Parking is also available at Lock 50, and from there the aqueduct is 7 miles upstream. See the Locks and Lockhouses web page for an interactive location map.

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A canal aqueduct is a nifty little feat of engineering that solves the problem of what to do when a canal crosses paths with a creek or river. Both are waterways, but the canal is a self-contained channel and cannot temporarily merge with the river because all of its water will spill out uncontrollably. The solution is to elevate the canal over the waterway via a bridge. In essence, a large, elevated bathtub must be built—water cannot be leaking out of the bottom and sides. This is done with a thick layer of clay and stone on the bottom and solid stone walls for sides.

Illustration of an aqueduct–the Catoctin Aqueduct–in use

The Licking Creek Aqueduct is a single-arch structure that was built between the fall of 1835 and the fall of 1838. Of the twelve aqueducts on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, six are single-arch structures, and Licking Creek was the first to be built. At the time, it was one of the longest single-arch aqueducts in the United States (90 feet long).

Single arch of the Licking Creek Aqueduct on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Licking Creek Aqueduct is no longer capable of holding water due to the loss of its berm-side parapet (retaining wall opposite the towpath). I cannot find any information about when this happened, but most likely it was during a major flood that occurred in 1924. The flood essentially put the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal out of business for good.

Missing parapet of the Licking Creek Aqueduct on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Missing parapet of the Licking Creek Aqueduct on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Today, hikers and bikers are welcome to pass through the center of the aqueduct on the wide, dirt path, but when in service, this area would have been filled with water. The towpath is actually along the top of the parapet facing the Potomac River.

Former water channel of the Licking Creek Aqueduct is now a hiker and biker trail, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

Towpath along the top of the parapet of the Licking Creek Aqueduct on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

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