Volunteering to help the park: A work crew installs a bench near Great Falls in 2016.
Supporting park projects: Catoctin Aqueduct after collapse in 1973
Supporting park projects: Catoctin Aqueduct after restoration effort in 2011
Exploring history and nature: Sideling Hill Creek Aqueduct as viewed from the Western Maryland Rail Trail.
Protecting the canal since 1954: The association opposes Georgetown University’s plan to build a large boathouse in the park
Protecting the canal since 1954: The association opposes Georgetown University’s plan to build a large boathouse in the park
Exploring history and nature: Hikers gather at Fifteen Mile Creek Aqueduct in 2018.
Protecting the canal since 1954: Justice Douglas and eight others pause during their famous hike, which publicized the canal in 1954
Exploring history and nature: Ranger provides interpretation for hikers at Seneca Stone Cutting Mill in 2020.
Exploring history and nature: Hikers marvel at a large specimen during a tree identification walk in 2012
Volunteering to help the park: Association volunteer attaches plaque to newly installed bench in 2018.
Exploring history and nature: Association members participate in the last day of the 2009 Thru Hike at Great Falls
Volunteering to help the park: Association member helps install an identification sign at Landers in 2011
Exploring history and nature: Hikers gather at Dam 5 in 2019.
Protecting the canal since 1954: Justice Douglas and others rally against replacing the canal with a highway.
Volunteering to help the park: Association members repaint picnic tables at Swains Lock
Volunteering to help the park: Association volunteers assemble picnic table in 2018.
Historic view of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal both passing through the narrows of the Potomac River below Catoctin Mountain.
From 1828 to 1832, the railroad in Canal had a fierce legal battle fighting for the right to use the narrow passage. They came to a compromise in 1833 which allowed both transportation corridors to pass through.
They were both developed through the site within a year of one another and in direct competition.
The canal closed in 1924, and the railroad remains heavily used today.
Read more about the below late-spring excursion to the top of the Paw Paw in Along the Towpath, the 32-page full-color newsletter of the C&O Canal Association. Available to view at this link: candocanal.org/atp/2026-6.pdf