You can now create your own itineraries to guide your C&O Canal exploration, or you can copy one of ours! Learn more about Itineraries.
Culverts and aqueducts both allowed streams and rivers to cross uninterrupted below the C&O Canal. Aqueducts were usually larger—more like bridges. Learn more.
Culverts and aqueducts both allowed streams and rivers to cross uninterrupted below the C&O Canal. Aqueducts were usually larger—more like bridges. But what else differentiates a culvert from an aqueduct? The debate rages on at mile marker 31.9 where Broad Run enters the Potomac. A double culvert was originally built to accommodate the spring, but then a wooden trunk was constructed to support the Canal bed over the stream. Although the customary arches were not present, Canal archeologist Thomas Hahn was satisfied that the structure included enough features of an aqueduct to label it as such. Culvert? Aqueduct? You be the judge.
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Please visit the National Park Service website for the following information:
For more information and nearby places to stay or grab a bite to eat, please visit our local tourism partners:
There has been a lapse in appropriations, and a shutdown of the federal government is currently in effect. Much of the C&O Canal National Historical Park remains accessible to the public, however, the National Park Service is not able to operate as normal. Scheduled C&O Canal Trust events and Canal Quarters reservations will continue as scheduled.
Learn more about what the shutdown means for the C&O Canal National Historical Park.