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Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical ParkPhoto of Civil War era ladies at Lock 19.
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Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
Environmental Factors
 
The C&O Canal National Historical Park is in a constantly shifting, dynamic state. Weather and climate change, geologic processes, flooding and human-caused factors such as air and water pollution are only a few of the agents of change that have helped to carve the Potomac River Valley. The park provides a "living laboratory" that helps us better understand how these environmental factors have shaped park landscapes and ecosystems. Park staff carefully monitor changes in environmental factors, and can often alert managers to threats to the resources in time to preserve those resources.
Photo Monocacy Aqueduct along C&O Canal.  

Did You Know?
Aqueducts are water filled bridges. Aqueducts carried the canal and boat traffic over major waterways, like rivers. Of the 11 aqueducts built along the canal, the Monocacy Aqueduct is the longest at 516 feet, its seven arches constructed mainly of stone quarried from nearby Sugarloaf Mountain.

Last Updated: July 25, 2006 at 00:29 EST