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Published: September 2nd 2022
C&O Canal Lock 52
Lock 52 Wing Wall. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Lock 52 at Hancock, Maryland. Built between 1828 and 1850, the canal ran 184.5 miles (297 km) from Georgetown, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. National Register of Historic Places 66000036
IMG_7598The first of September was a beautiful day. Not as humid as earlier in the week and a nice warm temperature. A day like this calls for a road trip, and so we were off. The remains of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from Georgetown, DC, to Cumberland, Maryland are a trove of historic sites and displays of 19th century canal engineering. I'd wanted to look at the canal works at Hancock, Maryland, for a while. So we decided this was the day to visit. The drive from Northern Virginia to Hancock is about 2 1/2 hours along the Capital Beltway, I-270 to Frederick and then I-70 to Hancock. We originally planned lunch in Hancock, but decided instead to stop at the Schmankerl Stube German restaurant in Hagerstown, Maryland. We had not been there since before the pandemic and like their Goulash soup and Schnitzel.
Hancock is another 30 minutes beyond Hagerstown. I last wrote about the area in my blog on Sideling Hill highway cut. Hancock was once a nexus of transportation along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, the National Road (subsumed by I-68 and I-70), the Western Maryland Railway (now a rail trail), and the Baltimore & Ohio
C&O Canal Lock 52
Lock chambers. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Lock 52 at Hancock, Maryland. Built between 1828 and 1850, the canal ran 184.5 miles (297 km) from Georgetown, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. National Register of Historic Places 66000036
DSC_0581 Railroad across the Potomac in Hancock, West Virginia. (The latter is still active as CSX, but there is no stop for Hancock.)
The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, built between 1828 and 1850, ran 184.5 miles (297 km) from Georgetown, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland. Bargemen did business in Hancock, where Locks 51 and 52 existed. The Hancock Visitor Center for the canal, at the Bowles House, has been closed since the pandemic closed National Park facilities. Few of the C&O Canal National Historical Park visitor centers along the length of the former canal have reopened. But the sights are still there to see and one may walk along the canal trace.
The Bowles House began in 1775 as a one-story farmhouse. It was significantly enlarged by the time the C&O Canal was in operation.
Lock 52 was built about 1839 as the canal came through Hancock. The ruins of the lock are very visible, with the stone lock walls, chambers and adjacent spillway standing out. Just north of the lock is the Tonoloway Aqueduct. The stone aqueduct made use of a natural rock outcropping to carry the canal and its boats over Tonoloway Creek. It is one of
C&O Canal Lock 52 and Spillway
C&O Canal Lock 52 and Spillway. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Lock 52 at Hancock, Maryland. Built between 1828 and 1850, the canal ran 184.5 miles (297 km) from Georgetown, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. National Register of Historic Places 66000036
DSC_0586 twelve aqueducts built along the canal.
A bit further south along the towpath are Lock 51 and the ruins of a lockhouse (lock keeper's house). In the center of downtown Hancock, the canal bed has water in it, giving an impression of what the operating canal looked like.
After our visitor to the canal ruins, we did some shopping at the Blue Goose Market before returning home. The Blue Goose stocks baked goods, country preserves and more. We brought home cookies, banana bread, salsa, stuffed olives, and Old Bay seasoned peanuts.
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