Purpose and Significance Statements

Towpath and canal at Mile 40.

NPS/Spencer

Purpose

To preserve and interpret the 19th-century transportation canal from Washington, DC, to Cumberland, Maryland, and its associated scenic, natural, and cultural resources, and to provide opportunities for education and appropriate outdoor recreation.

Significance

• The C&O Canal provides diverse recreational opportunities ranging from urban to rural settings, affords access to the Potomac River, and serves as the backbone for national and regional trail systems.

• The cultural resources preserved by the C&O Canal, including the largest collection of 19th-century canal features and buildings in the national park system, help us to better understand 13,000 years of human habitation along the Potomac River and foster discovery and dialogue about human ingenuity, adaptation, imagination, perseverance, tension, and renewal.

• The natural resources preserved make up one of the most biologically diverse natural areas in the national park system. The park travels through four geologic provinces, creating a unique habitat that wouldn’t normally exist because of the development in the surrounding region, which shelters globally rare species found in a limited number of places across the entire world.

• The C&O Canal serves as a forested riparian buffer to help protect the health of the Potomac River system and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. By keeping harmful nutrients out of the river, the park functions as a natural filter along the second largest tributary to Chesapeake Bay.