Welcome to the C&O Canal Trust
The official nonprofit partner of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.
Funding Priorities
Towpath Forever
Ensuring that the towpath and its resources are here forever.
Canal Classrooms
Exposing thousands of students to outdoor education programs along the Canal.
Canal Quarters
Step back in time as you spend the night in one of seven historic lockhouses.
Discover the Canal
Learn about the C&O Canal and plan your trip with our trip planning tools, mobile app, and itineraries.
Canal Community Days
Volunteer your time to help conserve the C&O Canal.
Canal Towns
Visit these nine unique destinations that border the Canal.
News
C&O Canal Trust Raises Over $200,00 at Park After Dark
On September 17, the C&O Canal Trust welcomed nearly 150 guests to the Historic Great Falls Tavern for the largest fundraising event of the year, Park After Dark. The event, which benefits the C&O Canal National Historical Park (NHP), raised a total of $223,750—surpassing the Trust’s fundraising goals and previous Park After Dark events. Of the funds raised at the event, $55,000 will directly support the Park’s work to preserve and protect rare, threatened, and endangered plants. (more…)
Canal Trust Staff to Host Walks for Walk Maryland Day
Walk Maryland Day by Charissa Hipp
Wednesday, October 5 is the 8th annual Walk Maryland Day. Members of the C&O Canal Trust staff will be hosting walks throughout the C&O Canal National Historical Park (NHP) during the day. The public is invited to attend these walks and participate in Walk Maryland Day, a celebration of Maryland’s official state exercise. With 347 miles of trails in the park, the C&O Canal NHP is the ideal place to enjoy the outdoors and take a walk.
- 10:00 a.m. – Point of Rocks, 2 miles round trip
- 11:00 a.m. – Billy Goat C Trail, 2.8 miles round trip
- 5:00 p.m. – Brunswick Boat Ramp, 2 miles round trip
- 5:30 p.m. – Cushwa Basin at Williamsport, 3 miles round trip
- 5:30 p.m. – Little Tonoloway at Hancock, 2.7 miles round trip
- 6:00 p.m. – Railroad Bridge Bridge Parking on Canal Rd. at Sharpsburg/Shepherdstown, 2-3 miles round trip
- 6:00 p.m. – Dam 5, 2-3 miles round trip
Participants are encouraged to register as a Sole Mate on the Walk Maryland Day website.
President & CEO of the C&O Canal Trust Robin Zanotti Announces Retirement
Williamsport, Md. — After more than seven years as president of the C&O Canal Trust, Robin Zanotti has announced she will retire in early 2023. Zanotti is participating in a year of succession planning and transition management with a succession planning team led by the Trust’s Board of Directors. This is meant to ensure the change in leadership is seamless and the organization maintains its momentum in both revenue and program growth. (more…)
Robin Zanotti by Trust Staff
C&O Canal Trust Wraps up Successful Canal For All Season
Throughout the month of July, over 300 youth and adults from Community Bridges, the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County and Girls, Inc., of Washington County, and the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle joined us in the park for games, crafts, historical hikes and tours, birdwatching, songs, outdoor skills, and dodging more than a few raindrops. (more…)
Canal For All at Four Locks by Francis Grant-Suttie
Picnic Area At Cushwa Gets A Fresh New Look
During Williamsport’s Canal Community Days event in May, Trust volunteers and staff put a lot of work into sprucing up the area around Cushwa Basin. Canal Trust staff member Don Street built two raised beds that were added to the picnic area adjacent to the Trolley Barn. Ellen Kinzer from the Trust staff selected native perennials from The Native Niche like Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), False Salomon’s Seal (Smilacina racemosa), and Heartleaf Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) that were planted by volunteers during the event. (more…)
Photo By Trust Staff
C&O Canal Explorer
Mobile App
Download our new mobile app to your Android or Apple phone and explore the C&O Canal in a whole new way. Get the app!
Stay The Night at a Lockhouse
Canal Quarters lockhouses offer a historic, recreational, and educational experience like no other. Book your stay today!
Enter our Monthly Photo Contest
The C&O Canal Trust sponsors a monthly photo contest highlighting the best photos you have taken of the C&O Canal National Historical Park. Find out how to enter here!
