Home on the Canal (Maryland Paperback Bookshelf) - Softcover

Kytle, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801853281 ISBN 13: 9780801853289

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996

Synopsis

This richly illustrated and engagingly written book tells the story of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from its origins in George Washington's decision to link the nation's new capital with the western frontier; through the beginning of construction in 1828 (fatefully, on the same day that the cornerstone of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad was set); to the "completion" of the project. Planned to go as far as Ohio and to take twelve years in construction, the Canal company's ambitions were scaled back after 22 years of toil, $14 million in expense, and the bankruptcy of several contractors took them only as far as Cumberland, at the eastern shed of the Alleghenies.

Describing in detail how the C&O operated in its heyday, Elizabeth Kytle takes the story through the shut-down of operations in 1924, after the Canal was purchased by its competitor, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the efforts that resulted in its preservation as a National Historical Park in 1971. Enriching this narrative, the book also provides oral history accounts of eleven men and women who worked on or grew up along the banks of the Canal.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Kytle is the author of The Voices of Robby Wilde, Four Cats Make One Pride, and Willie Mae, a first-person biography of a Georgia black woman born around the turn of the century. Maryland Paperback Bookshelf

Review:

"A gliding packet boat of a book that tours the history of the canal's 92 working years... With 54 sepia-toned photographs, Kytle's 'informal history' makes a worthy introduction to the making of the C&O Canal."

(Washington Post)

"The reminiscences are great... the best ever printed relating to the C & O canal."

(Hagerstown Herald-Mail)

"Elizabeth Kytle's book contains all the research we've never gotten around to doing. She has transformed the mass of assorted political, financial, and economic data into readable chapters that cover the canal from its conception by President George Washington through 1971 when it became a national historic park."

(Potomac Appalachian)

"A pleasant-to-read history, and delightful and spontaneous reminiscences. A charming essay on 'the magnificent ditch,' for present and future generations to savor."

(Dick Stanton, former superintendent, C&O Canal National Historical Park)

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0801853281
• ISBN 13: 9780801853289
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304