CENTRAL  VIRGINIA - RICHMOND

There are two things you should know about the James River and Kanawha Canal.  It was the first canal system built in America, and it is one of the coolest spots in Richmond on a hot summer afternoon.  Beneath the 13th Street arched overpass, built in 1860, there is a picnic pavilion shaded from the sun and cooled by the canal.  Display cases in the pavilion provide the history on this significant canal.

    It was George Washington’s dream to have a “Great Central American Waterway” linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River.  In order to realize that dream the James River had to be made navigable for carrying tobacco and other goods.  From the earliest days, settlers had encountered the obstacle of seven miles of rapids at the falls.  On May 24, 1607, ten days after landing at Jamestown, a party of 21 explorers including Captain John Smith, sailed up the James River only to be halted by these falls.  The falls broke the connection between the Atlantic Ocean some 125 miles down the river and the 200 miles of navigable river extending into the Alleghenies.

    Land along the falls was sold in a lottery by Colonel William Byrd II in 1737, and again by his son, William Byrd III, in 1768.  This settlement formed the nucleus of the city of Richmond.  Although early lot purchasers hoped the James River would be cleared for navigation, it was not until George Washington became president that the work was actually started.  In January 1785, the Virginia Assembly established the James River Company, with Washington serving as its first president, with the object of “clearing and improving the navigation of the James River.”

    By the end of 1789 large boulders were removed from the James River and two short canals were built around the falls.  In 1800 an eastern terminus called the “Great Basin” was built in Richmond between the area that is now 8th, 12th, Canal and Cary streets.  The next step needed to complete the canal system was to connect the Great Basin in the town of Richmond with the docks located in the Tidewater below Shockoe Creek---the Tidewater Connection.  Between 1810 and 1812, 13 wooden locks were built by Ariel Cooley.

In 1826, Charles Crozet, Chief Engineer for the canal, proposed that Cooley’s decaying wooden locks be replaced with stone locks.  He estimated the cost at $350,000.  By 1854 when the five stone locks and two basins Crozet recommended were finally open to commerce, the price tag was $850,000.

    The canal has not been used since the end of 1870, but you can still visit restored locks number 4 and 5 of the Tidewater Connection at the Canal Locks park.  Each of these large granite-blocked locks is 100 feet long and 15 feet wide.  This National Historic Landmark is open at no charge from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. daily.  The Tidewater Connection and the surrounding park was preserved by the Reynolds Metals Company incorporating the canal path and lock system into the design of the Reynolds Wrap Distribution Center.

Directions: The James River and Kanawha Canal Locks can be seen in downtown Richmond at 12th and Byrd Streets.  Parking is available alongside the canal. 

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