Williamsport Canal Walking Tour map (click to enlarge)

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The Williamsport Visitor Center is the starting point for a short walking tour around the area that stops at six structures on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The distance is about 1 mile, round trip.

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STOP 1: WILLIAMSPORT VISITOR CENTER / CUSHWA WAREHOUSE

The Williamsport Canal Walking Tour begins at the Visitor Center, which is housed in the restored Cushwa Warehouse. The warehouse was built before the canal, somewhere between 1790 and 1810. Once the canal opened, Victor Cushwa purchased the place as part of a partnership with Charles Embry, but by the 1880s he was the sole owner. Cushwa used the warehouse to hold coal, brick, iron, cement, and plaster. Canal boats could pull up to the warehouse doors and load or unload cargo.

Williamsport Visitor Center and the Cushwa Basin in Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

STOP 2: TROLLEY BARN POWER STATION

Located just to the left of the Williamsport Visitor Center is the brick power station used by a trolley that ran from Williamsport to Hagarstown. The first service began in 1896. This was a steam-powered station that drew water from the adjacent Conococheague Creek to generate electricity. However, the trolley line grew so quickly that a year later a bigger power station was built in Hagerstown, and the Williamsport station was converted into a warehouse for use by Cushwa, who had donated the land to the trolley company to begin with.

Williamsport trolley power station and former warehouse of the Cushwa company, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

STOP 3: CONOCOCHEAGUE AQUEDUCT

If you walk from the parking lot to the C&O Canal towpath, you will see the Conococheague Aqueduct to your right. 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

Construction on the Conococheague Creek Aqueduct took place between 1833 and 1835. It is a three-arch aqueduct, and one of the longer of eleven aqueducts on the canal at 210 feet. The three arches support the weight of the canal bed.

Three arches of the Conococheague Creek Aqueduct at Mile 99.7 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath

In 1920 one side of the aqueduct retaining wall collapsed when a canal boat busted through and fell into Conococheague Creek. Realizing that the canal was soon going to be out of business, the B&O Railroad, which owned the canal at the time, built a wooden wall to keep the water flowing down the aqueduct instead of making a permanent repair from stone. Another major flood did severe damage to the canal in 1924, and it was decided to cease operations. The wooden retaining wall eventually rotted away.

Missing retaining wall on the Conococheague Creek Aqueduct at Mile 99.7 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath

The Conococheague Creek Aqueduct remained without the retaining wall until a restoration by the National Park Service was completed in July 2019 (it started in August 2017). It is now the only aqueduct within Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park that is in operating condition. Visitors can actually travel across it as part of a Launch Boat Ride that departs from the Williamsport Visitor Center during the summer.

Restored Conococheague Aqueduct (photo by National Park Service / Tim Ware)

STOP 4: RAILROAD LIFT BRIDGE

When done taking a look at the aqueduct, turn around and walk down the towpath to an odd looking bridge. This is a railroad bridge that lifted up when canal boats came through and lowered when trains came through, very similar to lift-type draw bridges still in use today where roads cross boating channels. The bridge was built in 1923 by the Western Maryland Railway. It is the only such bridge on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. When the canal closed in 1924, the lift mechanism was no longer needed and the bridge remained in its lowered position. The bridge was used by the railroad until 1970.

Western Maryland Railway lift bridge on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the lowered position (2014)

In 2016 the National Park Service had the lift bridge permanently raised. Staircases on either end of the bridge were recently constructed so pedestrians could use the railway bridge to cross the canal and access the towpath on the other side. The photo below was taken before the staircases were added.

Western Railway Lift Bridge (photo by National Park Service)

STOP 5: BOLLMAN BRIDGE

Just a little farther down the towpath from the lift bridge is the Bollman Bridge, named after the man who designed it, Wendell Bollman. It was built in 1879 and is one of only a few surviving bridges in the United State built by Bollman, one of the pioneers of iron bridge building.

Bollman Bridge near Lock 44 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

STOP 6: LOCK AND LOCKHOUSE 44

Lock 44, which was built in 1834, is one of 74 lift locks on the C&O Canal. A lift lock is what raises and lowers a boat between two segments of a canal that are at different elevations. Think of a staircase in your house. To get from the top to the bottom there are a number of steps. When one step butts into another, you must move your foot up or down to get to the next level. That’s what a lock does—it’s really nothing more than an elevator for boats that uses water as its lifting method. By connecting together many level sections of a canal that are at different elevations using lift locks to maneuver the boats between them, you can build a long canal over uneven terrain. Some locks may raise or lower a boat only a few feet, while others may cover dozens of feet. Locks on the Panama Canal raise and lower ships 90 feet.

Lock 44 has been restored to working condition, and those taking the Launch Boat Ride can actually travel through it.

Lock 44 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (before the restoration)

The smaller channel on the inland side of the canal is the sluice. All locks had them, but today many have been filled in with dirt or are covered in vegetation and hard to spot. In most cases, the sluice was just a rudimentary ditch that ran parallel to the lock. When the upstream gates were closed, it allowed water to flow around the lock instead of backing up into a pool of excess water that could spill over the banks of the canal or put additional pressure on the lock gates. The water emptied back into the canal just past the downstream gates. The idea is similar to that of a spillway on a dam.

Chesapeake and Ohio Canao’s Lock 44 sluice

Along with the lock itself stands Lockhouse 44. A lockhouse is the residence of the man who is hired to operate the lock. In addition to a yearly salary, he and his family—almost all lockkeepers were family men—lived in the company provided lockhouse and had use of an acre of land for farming. Those who tended multiple locks got extra money per lock, up to two.

Operating the lock was a year-round, 24-hour-a-day job. When a canal boat approached, the captain would blow a whistle to notify the lockkeeper. If it were nighttime, somebody had to wake up and go to work. Of course that’s the benefit of being a family man—your kids had to get up for the late night and early morning arrivals!

Some of the lockhouses along the canal are open to the public, and seven have been restored and can be rented for overnight stays (see the Lockhouse Rentals web page for details). Lockhouse 44 was restored in 2012, and today it is a stop on the Launch Boat Ride.

Lockhouse 44

Lock 44 is the last stop on the Williamsport Canal Walking Tour, so turn around and head back down the towpath to the Visitor Center.

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