Program

Historic Transportation Canals

Subject

Industry & Commerce, Site, Transportation

Location

1775 Historic Way, Chesapeake, VA 23320, USA

Lat/Long

36.7208611, -76.237555555556

Grant Recipient

A & C CANAL

The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal serves as a route on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, hosting both recreational and commercial marine traffic. Completed in 1859, the A&C Canal allowed a more efficient commercial trade route between Albemarle Sound in North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay. This engineering feat was possible due to the newly-invented steam powered dredges, known as “iron titans.” Nine dredges, floating on platforms, cut through massive stumps, roots, and buried logs. As the canal was designed for steamboats providing their own power, no towpath was built paralleling the shoreline (NCpedia.org, Annual Report of the President and Directors of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal Company 1857).

The Federal government purchased the A & C canal in 1913 and a new lock was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1932 to allow passage of larger ships. As of 2023, the Corps of Engineers continued to maintain the canal, which has been dredged to a depth of 12 feet, allowing commercial marine traffic to avoid the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean (Virginiaplaces.org).