Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Digging canals

The Washington neighborhood of Georgetown is a colonial outpost on the slopes of the Piedmont, near the intersection of Rock Creek and the Potomac River. Rock Creek flows from the uplands of Montgomery County and all the way through the District before meeting up with the Potomac near Watergate. Along the way, it passes the magnolia-choked hills of Georgetown. Here, catbirds and mockingbirds find sanctuary from the metropolis. Just a couple blocks south of busy M Street is the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal, a narrow waterway, right, that parallels the Potomac. There was once a plan for the C&O to link the Potomac and Ohio watersheds, but the railroad beat the canal to it in the 1850s. The canal's old-fashioned locks still work, and tour boats ply the waters.

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