During the heart of the pandemic, when Edie and I decided we could probably get out now and then if we were careful, we started to take weekly day trips. Then, as things opened more and more and our calendar began to fill, our weekly trips disappeared into the past.

But we have decided to try to start them anew, and this afternoon we took a short trip (i.e., only a half day trip, leaving our house at about 2:30 and getting back about 6) to one of the places we visited a few years ago. We went to the Monocacy Aqueduct which carried the C & O Canal over the Monocacy where it emptied into the Potomac, about 25 miles from our house. A few photos have been posted on Facebook.

The Canal itself follows the Potomac from Cumberland Maryland for 184.5 miles and ends in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington DC. (When the Canal was built, Georgetown was a separate city from Washington) The Canal was completed in about 1840 and was in operation until the early 1920s.

Obviously, it was a problem for a canal paralleling a river to see another river emptying into the river. As 2 1/2 year old Izzy would say “You can’t go through it. You can’t go around it. You can’t go under it. You gotta go above it.” So, the canal and towpath had to be raised to cross over the river. Depending on which sign you read, the first version of the aqueduct was completed either in 1833 or 1850. It operated until 1924, when a flood damaged and closed the aqueduct forever. It was rebuilt in 2005, but does not carry water at this point.

But it’s a beautiful and peaceful site and well worth our second visit.

I am trying to remember where else we went several years ago. Shepherdstown WV, Brunswick MD, Occoquan VA, Antietam Battlefield, Bowie MD, Chesapeake Beach MD, Ft. McHenry (Baltimore) and more.

I think our next venture will be Harpers Ferry – for some reason, we missed that one on our first round.