Welcome to Chesapeake City. On the waterfront here, you can sit
back and relax, watch the sailboats slowly sail by, the jet skiers
and the powerboats zip in and out, and the huge seafaring boats get
a tug up the canal. The 14-mile, hand-dug Chesapeake & Delaware
Canal was opened to traffic on October 17, 1829. At that time there
were three buildings on the south bank at the western end of the
canal. As the ship traffic through the canal increased, the little
cluster of buildings grew into a busy commercial community
providing goods and services to passengers and shippers. In 1839,
the location was named Chesapeake City. By 1849 the city extended
over to the north bank and was well established and at its
population peak. For the next 75 years, Chesapeake City
prospered.
In 1927, the C&D Canal was dredged to a sea-level waterway,
eliminating the need for ships to stop for the locks at Chesapeake
City. The town’s economic base quickly declined. Commerce was
further complicated in 1942 when a ship destroyed the bridge that
connected the two sides of the town, leaving residents and
travelers with only a ferry as a means to cross the canal for seven
years. The opening of a new high-level bridge in 1949 did nothing
to restore the town’s economy—travelers swept by high above the
town. Another blow struck the town in the 1960s when an entire
street of 39 homes was razed to make way for a widening of the
canal, which by then was the third busiest in the world.
Today, Chesapeake City is the only town in Maryland that is
situated on a working commercial canal. Most of its interesting
19th-century architecture remains intact, and the area that
encompasses it on the south bank has been placed on the National
Register of Historic Places. At the city dock, pleasure boaters
find a tranquil harbor off the busy Inter-Coastal Waterway, of
which the canal is a major element. From the basin, visitors can
walk easily into town to tour the Canal Museum, where the story of
the canal is told and the massive waterwheel and steam engines that
filled the locks stand in mute testimony. Outside is a replica of
the lighthouses that once lined the canal.
Chesapeake City now is a destination widely known for its unique
inland view of ocean-going vessels, for the proudly preserved and
displayed reminders of its history, and for its friendly
hospitality. From its origin as a rough and rowdy boom town,
through an era of dispiriting depression, Chesapeake City has
emerged as a charming and interesting place with a warm welcome for
its visitors.
The town of Chesapeake City thanks you for visiting!
Thanks to CodyHollowFarm for helping with this hide!
