Tide Lock and Rock Creek Basin

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 184.5 miles long, begins at the Tide Lock and ends at Cumberland, Maryland. At this point, canal boats entered the canal to bypass mountains, swift currents, and shallows. Boats also exited the Tide Lock into the Potomac River to continue to downstream ports and off-load cargo. A 200-foot dam crossed the mouth of Rock Creek, creating a basin where canal boats docked and off-loaded cargo. From the Tide Lock, boats could enter the Potomac River and go downstream to the Washington Branch Canal, located where present-day Constitution Avenue is, and a lockhouse still standing at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue is the only remaining evidence of that branch canal.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States