Early Autumn Golden Hour on the C&O Canal - A Georgetown Impression

Early Autumn Golden Hour on the C&O Canal - A Georgetown Impression

With the late afternoon sun bathing the scene in golden light, the Georgetown Heritage Canal Boat is on its way back to its point of departure, at the end of the last roundtrip of the day up to Francis Scott Key Bridge. The bridge connects Washington's Georgetown with Arlington, Virginia over the broad Potomac River.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal runs parallel to the river. A distinctive and scenic aspect of Georgetown, the canal was once a major commercial artery linking the early port of Washington with Cumberland, far to the west, in the mountains of Western Maryland (although the original plan, as the name suggests, was to provide a link to Ohio). Barge traffic on the canal was powered by mules, harnessed to the boats and laboring along the towpaths on either side of the canal.

The C&O Canal towpath is now a lovely way to view the recently restored canal and the scenic landscapes of Georgetown, whether jogging, hiking, biking, or merely strolling in the sunshine, as a photographer did on this perfect mid-September afternoon, after first enjoying the one-hour narrated round trip aboard the Georgetown Heritage Canal Boat, an electric-powered vessel introduced to celebrate the reopening of the canal and its locks, whose historical purpose was to raise or lower canal boat traffic to accommodate the topography.

Several bridges, such as the one the Canal Boat is passing under, provide convenient crossing points for
pedestrians and bicyclists as the Canal meanders through this attractive and historic part of the Nation's Capital.

©2022 Steve Ember