A few weeks ago when I was looking around for small events to share, I saw a posting announcing a canal tour out of Chesapeake City. Shortly after I shared it I received a message from a friend who I haven’t seen much in the last 20 years telling me that he and his brother had just booked a seat on the tour. I decide to join them.
The canal tour we attended was the first in this year’s Fall Foliage Cider & Donut Cruise from the Chesapeake City Water Tours. These 90 minute tours the Canal to the Elk River and back and includes Cider (Hot or Cold) and donuts. For those who want a little more jolt in their drink they do have a Full Cash Bar and featuring Apple Cider Mimosas.
The day was cool, but really a nice October day. I forget to take a jacket with me and I wished I had, but that was on me and not the tour. The captain and his small crew attended to the passengers in ease and grace.
Unfortunately it was still a little early for the fall colors, the leaves on the trees are hardly changing. Then again the trees do change late on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. By the end of October when they will have their final Fall Foliage Cider & Donut Cruise the colors will be much better.
The turn around in the Elk River was so gradual that a few on board hadn’t realized that we had turned around heading back to Chesapeake City.
It was a nice tour, one that I do recommend. I am thinking about taking another before the end of the month. Whether it will be one of the Chesapeake City Boat Tours’ weekend Fall Foliage Cider & Donut Tour or the Autumn Sunset Cruise, which runs daily through October, except Mondays, I haven’t decided.
You can see more about the Chesapeake City Water Tours can be seen on their Website. More Photos from the trip can be seen on the ShoreToBeFun Photographs page on Facebook.
A day trip to Chesapeake City is a fun trip in itself, adding a trip on the canal, just makes it even more enjoyable.
Thank You Chesapeake City Boat Tours for a lovely Cider and Donuts tour on the Canal.
Photos by SG (Steve Atkinson) – ShoreToBeFun Photography
Information about the C&D Canal:
Almost from the time that the peninsula was first settled a canal to cross the peninsula between the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay was a topic of consideration. Augustine Herman was the first to proposed to a canal. Herman was a mapmaker and developed one of the first maps of the upper Delmarva for the Calvert’s of Maryland.
It wasn’t until the late 18th century that surveys of possible water routes were made. Benjamin Franklin was part of a group that looked into the possibility.
In 1802 the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company was incorporated. Construction began in 1814, but a lack of funds forced the project to be stopped in 1816. In 1822 the canal company reorganized and received monetary support from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the Federal Government. Work began again in April 1824 with the canal opening in 1829. The total cost was nearly 2.5 million dollars.
The canal of 1829 was much different than it is today. When it opened it was 14 miles long, 10 feet deep, 66 feet wide at the water line and 36 feet at the bottom. Locks existed at Delaware City and St. Georges, Delaware as well as two at Chesapeake City, Maryland.
In 1919, the Federal Government purchased the canal. From 1921 to 1927 the Army Corps of Engineers converted it to a sea-level canal by widening it, and removing all of the locks.
Today the canal is 450 feet wide with a depth of 35 feet. The canal is a modern sea-level commercial waterway that carries about 40 percent of the ship traffic to the Port of Baltimore.