My sister and I continued our walk on the C&O Canal Towpath where we left off in the fall, at Dickerson Conservation Area to finish at Noland's Ferry six miles upriver. This time we were graced with the good company of nephew Andy. The canal and the river were both full of spring rain and full, bright sun. It was cold, though, with a hard-charging north wind. Even so, woodland wildflowers were beginning to bloom and there were turtles sunning by the hundreds in the canal. There were dozens of Whitetail Deer browsing the forest and a handsome Great Blue Heron in his breeding finery, woods-walking along the inside canal path hunting for frogs.
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| Dutchman's Breeches |
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| Virginia Bluebells |
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| Spring Beauties |
This stretch is well above the furious Great Falls and here the Potomac shows its age-old penchant for meandering within the broad flood plain - sweeping turns, old oxbow bends, flooded bottom woods. One moment the river is flowing fifty feet below us and another it is far across the plain where hikers are running their dogs on shoreline trails. The Virginia Bluebells are popping up in the bright sun and some are in bloom dotting the whole wide wet woods in patches of blue.
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| Loch 27, near the old Spinks Ferry crossing |
The Potomac is wide and shallow as we approached Lock 27 and its meadows of bluebells. It was once the site of a small ferry crossing located between the busy ferry landings at White's and Edward's downstream and other smaller crossings upstream at Noland's and beyond. In low water come late summer and fall, the Confederate Army found it easy to walk across here and in so doing attempted to destroy the canal structures to disrupt commerce between river towns and Washington. They weren't successful thanks to lock keeper Thomas Walter who negotiated (pleaded) against their actions and saved this section from destruction.
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| Little Monocacy Culvert with my sister to give scale. |
Between Lock 27 and the beautiful culvert arch over the Little Monocacy are the ruins of Dr. Boyd's late 1700's homestead built of familiar red sandstone, but not much of the structure remains except the chimney and hearth. Of course, my nephew Andy and I had to (almost) tumble down the wooded embankment to look back at the beautiful stonework of the culvert. Just a half mile ahead was the amazingly beautiful Monocacy Aqueduct where we spent some time exploring above, below, and all around this incredible structure that floated canal boats over the wide mouth of the Monocacy River at the Potomac. Swallows twittered-soared out from under the watered arches and fed on early insect hatches. The stone, quarried and transported from Sugarloaf Mountain several miles away, gleamed in the sunlight. It has recently (2005) undergone an extensive restoration and clearing so now hikers and bikers can walk the canal bed over the river.
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| Monocacy Aqueduct |
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| Biking through the (unwatered) aqueduct. |
Beyond the aqueduct and from the canal towpath we could look deep into open forest that will soon be veiled with greenery. A large herd of Whitetails browsed just across the canal and speaking softly to one gentle doe, we were able to visit with her for some time as others slowly made their way across the fresh green forest bottom munching and wagging their tails. These woods once contained the old Monocacy Trail, a pathway that carried the Tuscarora and Shawnee into South-Central Pennsylvania, although the southern Tuscarora did live temporarily here (hence the modern road name nearby of the Tuscarora Road) on their log walk of displacement from North Carolina in the early 1700s. The area is rich with indigenous archeology dating from 5000 B.C.E. to the mid-1600s and place names reflect this long, sometimes tumultuous occupation of native people along the river and out on its islands. 
It is good to remember that these landscapes were peopled long before the canal works lent its iconic feats of stonework to the experience of being in this place. The land between the Potomac and the Susquehanna, my home river many days' walk to the north and east, was contested in-between-land where northern and southern tribes fought over resources, raided each other's encampments and towns, and generally made settler expansion difficult if not impossible in these parts before the 1730s. The Piedmont land between the rivers was made inhospitable by war parties for both local tribes and early settler farmers sent into this dangerous frontier by Colonials eager to claim more territory. More on that history as we progress further along...
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| Bluebell meadow. |
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| From the road bridge ruins at Noland's Ferry. |
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| Noland's Ferry |
Our six mile stroll ended at Noland's Ferry, where we were surrounded by the local high school cross-country running team stretching after their towpath running session. We climbed the old bridge ruin to the grassy flat there and had our lunch, looking down at walkers, hikers, bikers, and doggos. It wasn't our longest walk on the C&O by far but it was one of the most beautiful stretches, a welcome end to winter - though we did shiver like mad up there in the wind on the bridge! |
| Whites Ford to Noland's Ferry |
Note:
White's Ferry was officially closed this past winter (2020) after operating since 1786 due to a long-standing land dispute with Rockland Farm on the Virginia side, but we were happy to hear that negotiations are underway to resolve the dispute and that a local conservation-minded businessman has stepped in to help reorganize operations and reopen the ferry. https://wjla.com/news/local/businessman-purchases-historic-potomac-ferry-operation
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| Nooooo! |
On a brighter note, the White's Ferry Grill is still open and DELICIOUS. Thank goodness they had some sweatshirts for sale for because I completely underdressed for this hike. Brrrrrr.
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| Sister Laura and nephew Andy on this cold (!) six miler. |
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