Most of us relate canals with the Erie Canal, the Panama Canal or the Suez Canal. Did you know that George Washington proposed a canal system for the transportation of goods from the west to the east?  That vision became the first canal system in North America, begun in 1785 in Richmond.  The James River goes through Richmond. Although prodigiously deep to the south, it becomes unnavigable at the Fall Line, a geographical area creating rapids and waterfalls. (I don't agree with the geological timeline but the photography is incredible.) 

     This shows the elevation of the locks in Richmond.

This shows the elevation gain, sealevel is on the right, for the canal that was built through Virginia.

Here is one rendering of the canal at its peak.

This shows the canal alongside the James River.  See how much higher the canal is to the river?

   Most of the locks are now gone.  However locks 4 and 5 still exist. This is one of them...looking up...

From the top looking down...

     I have always found canals fascinating and I have ridden on several in upstate New York. I will try to dig out pictures to share later and explain the process of how they work.  It is fascinating! In fact, there is a canal in Washington DC that is on my to do list. Unfortunately, the locks in Richmond no longer work, although the canal still exists.  The Canal Walk reminds me  little bit of the San Antonio River Walk, minus the restaurants. 

The Canal Walk is full of interesting historical tidbits.  Seeing the old locks is one of them.  There is also this model of a lock system for kids to play with...except this wasn't working when we were there.

 Even though the locks no longer work, we did get to take a cruise on the canal. The boat driver, in costume, gave us the history of the area for our 45 minute tour.

     We learned about the history of the area, from Colonial times to the Civil War.  We learned about Edgar Allen Poe as we rode by the Poe Museum.  We also rode by the Holocaust Museum. Apparently that tells the story of a man who was in one of the camps when he was a little boy, and tells how he and his family escaped.  We learned about the tobacco exports from the area, the Shockoe Slip, and the Triple Crossing.

     In the nineteenth century, the canals were replaced by the railroad.  Above our heads were three different railroad lines (the Triple Crossing) that cross over each other at virtually one point, the only city in the world with this type of railroad intersection.  These railroad lines continue to operate.  Although rare, it is possible for all three railroads to cross overhead simultaneously. Above that is the highway for the transportation marvel of the twentieth century.     

At the far end of our ride, we saw this invention by Leonardo da Vinci...

The machine on the right uses a flipping motion to open the railroad trestle to the left.  It no longer works, since parts were scavenged during the Civil War.  We probably played with one of these at a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit last summer.

 Towards the end of the tour, the guide told us about St. John's Church nearby, where a famous man gave a Revolutionary famous speech.  Then he did his Patrick Henry interpretation of "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" After the ride we walked around. During the cruise, the guide pointed out this box.  A slave escaped to freedom in a box this size, sitting in it like my son is. Can you imagine?  Although he nearly suffocated, and spent hours on his head, he reached freedom after seventy two hours in the box.

   This is the Christopher Newport Cross, which commemorates the one Christopher Newport stuck in the ground when he and John Smith reached this area, while exploring the James River.  Christopher Newport was the captain who initially transported colonists to Jamestown. 

We also got a peak at the James River and the rapids.  We are standing on the level of the canal, looking down and out over to the river.

There are better places to stand and more of the Canal Walk.  However we had spent the majority of our day driving, looking for parking and restaurants, and we were thinking ahead to our drive down to Williamsburg and dinner.  You knew we couldn't possibly drive this far south and not go to Williamsburg?