29th Street Bridge Open for Through Traffic

The last of three bridges over the C&O Canal is now complete.

Traffic once again has access to 29th Street between K and M Streets, NW. Construction on the 29th Street bridge over the C&O Canal mid-block has finally come to an end, nearly two years after the street first closed to traffic Feb. 17, 2011. The 29th Street bridge is the last of three bridges over the C&O Canal that were part of the $6 million Three Bridges Project, which began in August 2009. Work on the 30th Street bridge lasted about 11 months and Thomas Jefferson Street bridge took eight months. The entire Three Bridges Project was predicted to take 1,098 days or about three years from the notice to proceed date, which was June 26, 2009. The project should have wrapped up in summer 2012. Mike Gales, the project engineer for DDOT, …

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C&O Canal Hosts 'Park After Dark' This Weekend

Tickets are still on sale for the second annual Park After Dark fundraiser benefiting the C&O Canal.

Our local national park hosts its largest fundraiser of the year Saturday, allowing visitors a chance to see the C&O Canal National Historical Park in a state few regular visitors have seen before. Tickets are still on sale for the C&O Canal Trust's Park After Dark, an evening benefit that will allowing event-goers to view the canal at twilight while supporting the C&O Park and the Canal Trust. Traditionally, the C&O Park closes at dusk. With nearly 250 guests in attendance, last year’s benefit was a sold out event. This year, event organizers have upped the attendance to allow for 300 guests. According to Matthew Logan, president of the Canal Trust, the 2011 Park After Dark benefit raised around $60,000 to support park programs including …

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Canal Trust Raising Funds, Not for Replacement Canal Boat

When The Georgetown is towed away later this fall, the canal in Georgetown will be boatless.

The Georgetown C&O Canal Boat will be towed away from Georgetown some time in November before Thanksgiving, but there is no replica replacement boat in the works. The National Park Service plans to begin a motorized launch program in Georgetown next spring. There is no fundraising campaign to secure a new mule-drawn boat. When a supporter of The Georgetown wooden replica boat saw a notice for a fundraiser being held by The Canal Trust in October, he told Patch he felt "snubbed." Get daily and breaking news email updates from Georgetown Patch by signing up for newsletters here. The Canal Trust is holding a fundraiser, Park in the Dark, on Oct. 13, which costs $150 a head. The proceeds this year "will support improvements in the park and the…

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Shaun Courtney

10:50 am on Thursday, September 27, 2012

Thanks, Mary Jo. We're happy to let people know about what sounds like a great event! -Shaun   more ›

NPS Emergency Call Boxes Going Out of Service Permanently

A call button near the site of a July sexual assault has been out of order for months.

The emergency call boxes that line the C&O Canal trail from Cumberland, MD through Georgetown in D.C. will no longer be used or maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). Instead, NPS will post emergency contact information signs for people to call from their personal cell phones.  The matter was first brought to Patch's attention by a reader who worried about a broken call box located very near to the site of sexual assault that occurred on the trail in July. In that incident a female jogger told police she was attacked from behind and placed in a chokehold that caused her to pass out. The incident took place around 9 p.m. on a week night on the trail north of the Three Sisters rock formation, near the vicinity of Water Street NW, …

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Utility Issues Stall 29th Street Bridge Completion

Project on final of three C&O Canal bridges being replaced won't be finished until October

Th 29th Street bridge over the C&O Canal will likely wrap up by late October, several months behind schedule, due to complications with utility work. The $6 million Three Bridges Project began in August 2009 and the 29th Street bridge was originally scheduled for completion in January 2012, and then July 2012, before its new end date of October. Mike Gales, the project engineer for DDOT, told Patch in an email relocating utilities during construction has taken longer than expected. "The planned duration was 9 months and it has taken longer than anticipated to move the utilities. Utilities are deep and relocations have been difficult due to lack of space to build new infrastructure while maintaining the existing electric, gas, phone, cable …

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Canal Boat Departure Delayed Until Fall

Logistical challenges in transporting the aging boat have delayed its departure from Georgetown.

One day this fall a team of mules will tow The Georgetown canal boat along the C&O Canal towards Fletcher's Cove, where the boat will be demolished. The National Park Service, which operates the C&O Canal and its historic outreach programs, determined that repairs to the mule-drawn 1870's replica boat would be "cost prohibitive." Since making that determination, the challenge has been to determine how exactly to move the vessel. Get daily and breaking news email updates from Georgetown Patch by signing up for newsletters here. Brian Carlstrom, the deputy superintendent for the NPS's C&O Canal, said the bids from companies that would have used a crane to lift the boat from its dry dock all came in "far too expensive." "We would have liked …

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TONIGHT: Farewell Party for 'The Georgetown'

Neighbors will gather to mourn the loss of The Georgetown, a replica mule-drawn canal boat, at 5 p.m. at Lock 4 (between Thomas Jefferson and 31st Streets).

Canal Boat Farewell Party Planned for Wednesday

Neighbors will gather to mourn the loss of The Georgetown, a replica mule-drawn canal boat.

The farewell party for "The Georgetown" replica canal boat, which will soon be transported to Fletchers Cove and destroyed, is Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Lock 4 (between Thomas Jefferson and 31st Streets). "Demonstrate your support for our historic, reproduction canal boat and the loss of this interpretive treasure by joining with us," reads an invitation sent to neighbors and supporters last week. It is not clear if the boat will be taken away to be destroyed this week or at a later time. The National Park Service (NPS) did not respond to an email Patch sent Thursday inquiring about the timeline. As Patch previously reported, the NPS, which operates the C&O Canal and its historic outreach programs, determined that repairs to the mule-drawn …

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Shaun Courtney

11:46 am on Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Thanks P Leary. The wake is part real, part PR; they hope to raise funds to have a new boat made!   more ›

Saying Farewell to The Georgetown, a Boat With a 'Soul'

The Georgetown mule-drawn canal boat is slated to be removed and demolished

A group of neighbors and local history lovers are planning a farewell party for The Georgetown canal boat, which will soon be transported to Fletchers Cove and destroyed. Certain parts of the boat will be kept for posterity. Though National Park Service (NPS) Regional Director Steven Whitesell wrote in a letter dated Feb. 23 "Our long term plan for the boat is to preserve its legacy as a fixed interpretive and educational exhibit in Williamsport, Maryland," the boat will not become an exhibit. NPS, which operates the C&O Canal and its historic outreach programs, determined that repairs to the mule-drawn 1870's replica boat would be "cost prohibitive," according to John Noel, a regional spokesperson for the agency. Get daily and breaking …

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Launch Boats Coming to Georgetown Canal in July

The National Park Service recently started a Canal Launch Boat Interpretive Program in Williamsport, MD

Though the mule-drawn Georgetowner canal boat is no more, residents and visitors will be able to take in the C&O Canal by boat once more when the Canal Launch Boat Interpretive Program comes to Georgetown in July. Today's launch boats are replicas of those that frequented the canal during the late 19th and early 20th century. The 30-foot boats have room for 12 passengers and are battery-powered. Get daily and breaking news email updates from Georgetown Patch by signing up for newsletters here. The batteries allow for "a silent ride, just like the mule-drawn boats," explained John Noel, a regional spokesperson for the National Park Service. Noel said many of the staff were "shocked" that boats during that time period had such capable …

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