C and O Canal - Old News, Floods

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal - News - Recent and Old

9-10 As some Scouts rode along the C&O Canal towpath, they heard a woman yell for help about 15 feet into the brush..... - Herald-Mail
9-8 Karen Gray's Letter to the Editor
8/29 - Park officials plan canal restoration after bridge in place - Herald-Mail
Update and Errata Page for Mike High's The C&O Canal Companion.
August 25-26 Williamsport Canal Days - includes link to schedule
8-15 Council considers request to buy land by C&O Canal - Herald-Mail
8-6 States divided over use of the Potomac River - Herald-Mail
7-19 Preserving Canal-Era History Monocacy Aqueduct Close to Securing Funds for Repairs - Washington Post
7-18 C&O Canal is moving headquarters from Ferry Hill to Dual Highway in Hagerstown
7-1 - Jim Moore is going to try a back and forth run of the towpath starting on July 18. (As he did 2 years ago.)
6-19 Bill's Place has reopened after the fire and other news in the Canal Association's Summer 2001 newsletter.
4-26 -Stopping in Cumberland at the new canal museum, I learned of the Canal Place page It has info about the upcoming May 19-20 CanalFest. I also found a URL for the Allegheny Highlands Trail in Maryland
4-10 Japanese walkers revere cultural misson on foot - story from the cumberland Times-News
3-25 Trans-America Walk 2001, organized by the Japan Walking Association will began their transcontinental walk at the end of March. Part of their initial days of their six month trip will be spent wlaking along the C and O. - They were around mile 80 of the towpath on Friday, April 6. (There was a picture in the April 8 Morning Herald.)
2001
11-8 Bill's Bar Burns Down - Little Orleans or try: http://www.candocanal.org/billsplace.htm
9-6 - Sewer studies conflict (along C and O near Cabin John)
8-23 Lock 44 restored
8-23Canal Days + Canal Facts
8-21 - Rick McMullan's C and O Canal Virtual Tour has loads of pictures from along the Canal.
8-18 - There was a report in the August 20 Martinsburg Journal of a sexual assault in the mile 73 area of the towpath, about a mile above the Shepherdstown bridge, at about 2:30 p.m. on Friday, August 18. On August 19 an ultralight plane crashed between Potomac and towpath in Montgomery County.
August 15 Post article: Love for Canal Runs in Family
Special Events in Honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Canal
Starting June 5 - Many of the drive-in campgrounds along the Canal will begin charging fees.
Coming September 23-24 - Potomac Watershed Weekend. See the Potomac Conservancy website
July 11 Herald-Mail article: Park Service renting C&O Canal's historical homes
July 9 - Discovered an account of someone's trip down the towpath by skateboard.
July 2 - C&O Canal Digs Into the Past - 182nd anniversary of the beginning of construction
June 27 - Washington Post: The Potomac Rises Again
June 22 - Cumberland Times-News story Traveling cyclists an example of trail's impact
June 20 - Herald-Mail story: Unsafe dam to be rebuilt
June 10 - Herald-Mail story: Work under way to save Fort Duncan
May 23 - CNN Story about the ADT and Hiking across the United States (The ADT includes the C and O.)
May 22 - Post Article: C&O: The Little Canal That Couldn't (alternate link if other doesn't work)
May 19 Parking restricted at Lock 34
May 19 Dig Completed at Fort Frederick (Mile 112)
2000
2-7 Granny D. is due to be walking/skiing for campaign finance reform along the towpath the first 2 weeks of February. Article in today's Morning-Herald On one of the days students from T.J. High School in Frederick came out to walk with her.
2-6 Kate Mulligan has an article in the February 2000 Bulletin of the AARP entitled:
Drawn to America's Waterways: Restored Canals Offer Fans Chance to Glimpse Life in America's Past
1-25 There's now a website for the film which was shot along the Canal, Forest for the Trees.
1-6 Feds to rent historic fixer-uppers - article in Morning Herald
1999
New bike trip accounts added: John and Carole Pescatore's Fall 1999 Trip and a June '99 Trip by the Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club
November 17 article in Morning Herald - Canal families fight to save homes
October 23 - Post article: In Bad Odor at the Canal D.C. Agency Sued Over Stench From Sewage Pipe Near C&O
Excerpt from the newly published book Canal Parks, Museums and Characters of the Mid-Atlantic by Kate Mulligan is now online.
November 1 - There will be a lecture on the role of the Canal in the Civil War at the Hagerstown, MD Library
Walking with the Walrus 10 KM Volksmarch in the Paw Paw Tunnel area - took place in April but I just found out in September.
Essay about one of last Mule Skinners on the canal
August 29, 1999 - Article about biking from Pittsburgh to D.C. (Print version had several color pictures.)
August 29, 1999 - An article about Canal Days.
August 29, 1999 -Article about families' fight to prevent Park from going through with agreements signed in '70's which many say they were coerced into signing.
August 27 - Many trees are down along the towpath in the Shepherdstown area after a heavy storm that passed through the area on Friday afternoon. No doubt the park will be working to get them cleared soon, but cycling in that area could well be difficult this weekend. NOTE: Late Friday afternoon - most of downed trees have already been cleared.
July 21 - Lockhouses for rent, ghosts included - Page 1 Metro section, Washington Post
July 19-24 Jim Moore's Round-trip Run of the Towpath
July 11 Washington Post article dateline mile 70 of the towpath: Area's Drought Brings Out the Bears C&O Canal Sightings Alarm Campers but Don't Faze Residents
Potomac River Guide: A guidebook to the history and recreation of the Potomac River Valley, includes a 1999 calendar of events.
June 9 Herald Mail article about old grocery along Canal.
May 5 Post article about the "Monacacy" Aqueduct - No longer available
April 18 Post article - A Walk Down Memory Towpath: Trek Recalls When Judge Came to the Aid of a Canal - No longer available
Travel the whole Potomac with WETA's Potomac Adventure - WETA Direct link to Trip Journals. April 28-May 18
Starting April 22: The C and O is instituting a new "Trash Free Park" policy.
May 9-12 Daily showings in Cumberland of "Forest for the Trees," a film whose setting is a five day bike trip along the towpath.
February 26 - From Morning Herald: New path to be Built in Problem Area Downriver from Williamsport and 100 k. hike on the towpath on May 1, an annual hike sponsored by the Sierra Club's Metropolitan Washington Regional Outings Program
February 5 article from Morning Herald about funds for Canal in Clinton's budget.
1998
Hillary planning to visit the Monocacy Aqueduct on the 15th.
Monocacy Aqueduct has been named one of America's 11 most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation A program will be aired about the 11 places on June 22 at 10 P.M. by History Channel.
Article about the Western Maryland Rail-Trail - June 11
August 22-23 - Canal Days were held in Williamsport. Here's a glimpse at last year's Canal Days. as well as 1998.
June 27 article in Morning Herald: Elements eat away at towpath
June 16 article in Morning Herald: First Lady goes to bat for Monocacy Aqueduct. And an article from the Frederick-Post: First lady announces: Monocacy aqueduct on endangered list.
June 17 Hillary Clinton's newspaper column about America's historic places and the remarks she made on visit to the Aqueduct.
April 30 - Western Maryland Rail Trail set to Open: From March 12 Hagerstown paper: The grand-opening of the Western Maryland Rail Trail will be held April 30 at 1:30 PM at the Hancock end of the trail. The 10 mile paved trail runs from Hancock to Fort Frederick. See info on a Hancock webpage. An article appeared in the April 25 Morning Herald: The Word is Out on the Rail Trail. And in the May 1 paper, there was a picture from the opening day on April 30.
April 16 article in Post: U.S. Works To Fortify C&O Canal
April 10, 1998 articles in Morning Herald: C&O headquarters could become tourist attraction and also Options considered for Ferry Hill
March 5 article from Washington Post : "For Rent: History on the C&O Canal:
Park Service Seeks Tenants to Fix Up Old Houses, Barns"
December 1 - Dave Johnson presented a talk entitled: The Canal Era. A video of this talk can be viewed in the Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown.
November 30 article from Raleigh News and Observer
November 5 Washington Post Article about Biking the C&O and W&OD
October 13 Washington Post Article About Canal Repair in Brookmont Area
October 2 Article on Herald-Mail Website regarding NPS plans to lease
historic properties along C & O
July 14 Article from the Washington Post
November 22 - JFK Marathon on Towpath
Article about it in the Hagerstown Morning Herald and another in the Frederick Post
And the Winner is.... (November 23 - Herald-Mail)

January '96 Flood-related Information

Rob Langston's Environmental Page with many C and O flood pictures.
Secretary Babbitt appeared at a rally in Harpers Ferry on April 17 and then hiked down the towpath to Washington. The area in the immediate vicinity of Harpers Ferry is being fixed by ATC crews with the help of a monetary donation by Amoco.
The March for Parks for the C and O took place on Earth Day, Saturday, April 20.
Tax-deductible donations are now being accepted to help fix the towpath. They can be sent to the C and O Canal Restoration Fund at the National Park Foundation, 1101 17th St. N.W., Suite 1102, Washington, DC 20036, 202-785-4500.
Here is a table showing parts open as of March 28, 1996.
Here is the canal restoration page by the Potomac Conservancy which gives info on the ongoing effort to restore the Canal. Look here for an online form where you can sign up to volunteer. It went online on February 6, 1996. It also includes info about which parts of the park are open.
A more recent flood page on the new NPS C and O page.
There is some more flood info here.

And Along Came Hurricane Fran...

Articles appeared in the Washington Post on September 8,9,10 and 11 about Hurricane Fran, including its impact on the Canal. The title of the one on the 11th was "Fran's Flood A Bit Kinder To C&O Park."
The Potomac Conservancy's 1996 Flood - The Sequel Page
Channel 4's Flood Page (No longer available.)

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