Paw Paw, West Virginia is a small town located near a section of the Potomac River that contains five horseshoe-shaped bends. Town and bends are named after the native paw paw fruit trees that flourish in the area. In the 1830s the C&O Canal’s engineers found themselves with the task of constructing the Canal around or through this difficult area of the Potomac. They settled on a plan that bypassed the river by building a 3,118-foot-long tunnel straight through a mountain. The time and cost to build the tunnel were severely underestimated and, as a result, almost bankrupted the C&O Canal Company. This was the reason that the Canal terminus was changed from its planned destination of Pittsburgh to Cumberland.

Today the towpath and tunnel are both intact and can be readily explored. The 2014 construction of a hiker-biker path provides a safer way to access the MD 51 Oldtown Road Bridge from the C&O Canal towpath near the Paw Paw Tunnel. Just across the river travelers will find food and lodging options in this friendly West Virginia town.

Download brochure: C&O Canal Trail to History: Hancock, Paw Paw, Oldtown, Cumberland