Williamsport Get-Together - June 2018

Today the Take Joy Society visited Williamsport, Maryland, a small town at the confluence of the Potomac River and Conococheague Creek.  Williamsport grew up along the Great Wagon Road, that ran from New York to the Carolinas, where a ferry was established in 1744 to carry settlers heading West across the Potomac.  By 1834 the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal passed through Williamsport to transport coal and other supplies between Cumberland, Maryland and Washington, D.C. and was why we visited the town today so we could take a ride on a replica launch boat which were used around 1900 for leisure and business on the canal.

Our first stop was the Canal View Candles & Barrel Company where you could find innovative handcrafted items made from barrels.

Then it was across the street for lunch at Desert Rose Cafe, named after the owner. . . .

We each had a different soup and half-a-sandwich and it was all delicious. . . .

The C&O Canal at Cushwa Basin was just 2 blocks down the street where we stopped in the Visitor Center first to watch the video about the canal. . . .

It was very interesting just for the fact that it was filmed in 1917!  The canal finally ceased operations after a devastating flood in 1924.  By then the railroad was in competition with it and it was not economically feasible to rebuild it.  You can read more about the history of the C&O Canal HERE, HERE and HERE where you can watch the film as well.

After browsing the Visitor Center we headed outside for our 1:00 boat ride on The Katie Dreamer. . . .

A fourth member of our group joined us with her little granddaughter. . . .

The Park guide told us the history of the canal and gave us an assignment to write down the name of a person in history who had tried to do something to help their community.  She told us how George Washington had wanted to help as early as 1774 by proposing using the Potomac River for commercial transportation by building canals to skirt the unnavigable sections of the Potomac River.  The C & O Canal would eventually come be built between 1828, starting in Washington, DC and completed in Cumberland, MD in 1850.  It arrived in Williamsport in 1834.  The Cushwa Basin was used to unload coal to be transported on the train further inland.  It also is where the boats could turn around. . . .

A highway was proposed for the unused canal in the 1950s.  It was due to Associate Justice William O. Douglas's efforts, beginning in 1956, that the canal eventually became a National Historical Park in 1971.  You can walk or bike the entire 184.5-mile tow path.

As we glided quietly over the water in the battery-powered launch boat we went under the train bridge with it's raised track.  During the canal's operation this section of railroad track would be raised whenever a boat came through. . . .

We saw geese. . . .

...and turtles on a log to the delight of the children on-board. . . .

Soon we were back at the Visitor's Center. . . .

At the end of the tour the guide gave one of the children a try at blowing the horn that would alert the lock keeper to open the locks for an approaching barge. . . .

 We disembarked and walked the two blocks into town. . . .

Our destination was to treat ourselves to ice cream!

❤️Take Joy❤️