Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Ralph Buglass, a Montgomery County native and avid history buff, has taught at lifelong learning institutes associated with Johns Hopkins and American universities and Montgomery College. He speaks frequently to community groups, businesses, and other organizations as well as at national conferences. In 2020, with Peerless Rockville, he co-authored Images of America: Rockville, a pictorial history of the city’s 250 years. A retired communications professional, he is a graduate of Winston Churchill High School and has a B.A. in American history from Cornell and an M.A. in journalism from American University.

An ambitious project in our nation’s early days, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was built alongside the unnavigable Potomac River as a commercial waterway to reach the west. But doomed almost from the start by the railroad, then put out of business altogether by the river flooding–not to mention almost being turned into a parkway–it is now a treasured recreational spot by cyclists, hikers, canoeists and others with technological wonders of its time and natural beauty to behold.