If you’re in the Northern Virginia, Maryland, DC area there’s a gem of a National Historical Park within minutes and worth the trip.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park and in this case Great Falls Park – part of the C&O Canal Park – is a place full of beauty, history and adventure. The park spans 184 miles from Cumberland Maryland – southeast of Pittsburgh PA - to Washington DC and Great Falls Park is about 15 miles of the southern section beginning at the Great Falls tavern in the north down to Sherwin Island in the south.
Many of you who live in the area are well aware of the park as apparent by the number of joggers on the trails.
I suspect some however have not stopped to read the history of the park which from a Nature and preservation standpoint is one that offers cause for optimism. You see, in January of 1954, the Washington Post published an editorial in support of a government plan to convert the Canal into a highway. Having read the editorial, Associate Justice William O. Douglas – an avid naturalist – proposed that the Canal be preserved as public space and invited a number of luminaries, naturalists, and journalists to hike the length of the canal with him to better see and understand the natural beauty and value of the place.
Word of the hike spread and on March 4th, 58 hikers set out from Cumberland with Justice Douglas for the 184 mile hike. Five days later nine men including the Justice completed the hike and the Post issued a reversal, now supporting the preservation.
During our visit we didn’t hike the 184 miles, but our short trek along the “Billy Goat Trail” offered a good glimpse of the beauty and history.
