Easy 20 miles

I was hoping for 30 miles and the dog, bike, and I could have done it but I ran out of time. Nice fall colors and mild weather. 

Third leg of C&O trail

Too late for paw paw fruit but we made it to Paw Paw, WV. It was a longer than earlier legs - about 23 miles. The early miles had a strong wind in our face! This leg had long scenic sections of the Potomac River. Only a few short stretches of muddy rutted trail, but we did need to avoid walnuts. We saw a large turtle, mallard and wood ducks. Leafs starting to turn made this a pretty ride.

Mile Marker 156.2

Superintendent’s House

Adjacent to the parking area for the Paw Paw Tunnel, about a half mile from the upstream entrance to the tunnel, is a frame house that once belonged to the superintendent for this section of the canal. The superintendent was in charge of the maintenance for this section of the C&O Canal. (Source: www.canaltrust.org)

Mile marker 155                     

Paw Paw Tunnel

Made up of six million bricks and at three-fifths of a mile long, the Paw Paw Tunnel is considered the most notable landmark and greatest engineering marvel on the C&O Canal. It took 14 years and cost more than $600,000 to complete, coming in way over budget. The tunnel was built to eliminate six miles of canal and cut across a neck of land formed by the Paw Paw bends. Immigrant laborers worked on the tunnel in difficult conditions. A great deal of labor unrest including riots, strikes, violence, and even arrests, disrupted progress on the tunnel. (Source: www.canaltrust.org)

Smith Island, MD

We went to Tangier, VA last year but this time tried Smith. Boozie enjoyed the multitude of bird life.

Mantrailing at Appomatox

Great training week with Old Dominion SAR. Had another smoke bomb which is always educational to see. This year, instead of a Tellatubbie we got a ghillie suit.

First weight pull and conformation

We went big and started at the UKC Eastern Classic. 

Took first place in weight pull. I withdrew him at 596 pounds. He could have gone further but I wanted him wanting more.

We got our first conformation points.

I did not wipe out- second leg of C&O trail

 

No rain while we did the trail but it had rained in the days prior making about 10% of the ride tricky. 

Started where we left off last time and went to Lockhouse 70. Round trip about 20 miles. 

We saw great blue herons, white tail deer, mallard ducks and different sorts of terrain. 

Mile Marker 166.7

Thomas Cresap gravesite and Ginevan House

For many years the grave of famous frontiersman Thomas Cresap sat unmarked and nearly forgotten. English-born Cresap, who was known in colonial Maryland as an Indian trader, a land speculator, a farmer and a soldier, died in 1787 and was buried here, overlooking Lock 70. Livestock grazed over the unkempt grave and Cresap’s headstone was knocked over. In 1939, someone moved the headstone to the Oldtown Methodist Church cemetery, a mile away. For the next 60 years Cresap’s grave remained unmarked in the middle of a cow pasture. During this time the land was owned by the Ginevan family, who built a Victorian home on the land, which remains today. In the 1990’s historians, descendents and the National Park Service were able to return Cresap’s headstone to its rightful place. Also on this site, the Ginevan family built an impressive brick Victorian home in 1878 that remains today.

Also here is Oldtown whose history dates back thousands of years to early Native American settlements in the area. Five of their trails passed through Oldtown; in fact, the town’s original name was Shawnee Oldtown. In the early 1740s, frontiersman Thomas Cresap established a fort near the Potomac River. His son, Michael, was the first white male born in Allegany County. Today, one of the oldest structures in Allegany County is the 1764 Michael Cresap House. George Washington crossed the Potomac here in 1748 when he was in his teens, working on a survey mission. The low water crossing of the Potomac River at Oldtown made it a popular spot for troops to cross during the French and Indian War and again later during the Civil War. Several Civil War incidents at Oldtown affected the canal and the B&O Railroad. In August of 1864, after burning Chambersburg and occupying Hancock, Confederate troops threatened Cumberland. Union forces amassed an unsuccessful attempt to trap Brigadier John McCausland’s Confederate raiders behind Union lines in the Battle of Oldtown on August 2. (Source: www.canaltrust.org)

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