The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-01)

B6 EZ RE K THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2020

opposite the tow path and lower

its tow rope so the faster boat

could go over it.

Leaky boats were not permit-

ted on the canal. Boats were

required to have their names

painted so they could be seen

from both sides of the canal. No

carcass or dead animal could be

thrown into the canal.

Passenger fares varied. An ex-

cursion from Georgetown to

Great Falls and back, plus dinner

at the Crommelin House — now

the park service visitor center —

was 50 cents.

Some boats carried 100 peo-

ple. One excursion, in August

1835, included President Andrew

Jackson, 50 guests and the Ma-

rine Band.

Many boats could carry as

much as 150 tons of freight,

which was often coal, according

to Unrau.

When approaching a lock, the

boat’s master was required to

blow his horn for 10 minutes —

or knock on the door of the lock

keeper’s house. If the lock keeper

failed to appear, the boat master

was allowed to operate the lock.

Addington, of Tridentis, said

that once tested, the new boat

would be taken apart and placed

in storage until the spring. Paint-

ed gray with green trim, it is

expected to make its canal debut

March 20, 2021.

The cost for the preservation

project and the boat’s construc-

tion is $1.5 million and is being

paid for with a grant from the

District, said Georgetown Heri-

tage executive director Jeffrey L.

Nichols.

“We’re actively pursuing nam-

ing rights to the boat through

individuals,” Nichols said. “It

can’t be corporate or anything

like that... We’re looking for a

donor who would be willing to

endow the boat and help us

name it.”

Meanwhile, a crew has to be

hired, he said, a nd mules must b e

acquired.

Two are needed.

They won’t be living on board.

[email protected]

a really long time.”

For today’s passengers there’s

also cabin lighting, an interior

sound system and, possibly, web-

cams.

The modern amenities might

amaze the canal boaters of the

past. But the experience on the

waterway beside the Potomac

River is the same.

“It is not easy to imagine a

more delightful excursion,” a

traveler on a packet, or passen-

ger, boat wrote in early 1831,

according to a National Park

Service research study by Harlan

D. Unrau.

“The boat is very handsomely

fitted a nd furnished,” the traveler

wrote.

“The bridges over the canal

are few; and a moderate inclina-

tion of the body enables those

who stand on the roof... of the

boat to pass under them,” he

wrote in a Washington newspa-

per. “Those who remain in the

cabin are as much at ease and as

comfortable as if they were in

their parlors or drawing r ooms at

home.”

The canal currently has an

1870s reproduction packet boat

at Great Falls, in Potomac, Md.,

and 189 0s reproduction launch-

es in Williamsport.

In its prime in the mid-to-late

180 0s, scores of boats — for cargo

and passengers — used the 184

miles of the canal between

Georgetown and Cumberland,

Md.

The boats were pulled by

mules who walked the tow path

harnessed with ropes to the ves-

sels.

When not on duty, the animals

lived on board with the boat

operators and their families. The

mules were often led by children

who sometimes rode the mules

to spare their feet, according to

Unrau’s research.

There were tolls, speed limits

and traffic regulations issued by

the canal company.

The speed limit was 4 mph.

The penalty for speeding was $5.

A boat being passed by anoth-

er had to pull over to the side

AVERAGE RECORD ACTUAL FORECAST

PREVIOUS YEAR NORMAL LATEST

<–10–0s 0s 10s20s 30s 40s50s 60s 70s80s 90s 100s 110+

T-storms Rain Showers Snow Flurries Ice Cold Front Warm FrontStationary Front

NATIONAL Today Tomorrow

High

Low

Normal

Record high

Record low

Reagan Dulles BWI

Reagan Dulles BWI

Today’s tides (High tides in Bold)

WORLD Today Tomorrow

Sources: AccuWeather.com; US Army Centralized

Allergen Extract Lab (pollen data); airnow.gov (air

quality data); National Weather Service

* AccuWeather's RealFeel Temperature®

combines over a dozen factors for an accurate

measure of how the conditions really “feel.”

Key: s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, r-rain,

sh- showers, t-thunderstorms, sf-snow flurries,

sn-snow, i-ice

Moon Phases Solar system

NATION

OFFICIAL RECORD

Rise Set

REGION

Past 24 hours

Total this month

Normal

Total this year

Normal

Richmond

Norfolk

Ocean City

Annapolis

Dover

Cape May

Baltimore

Charlottesville

Lexington

Washington

Virginia Beach

Kitty Hawk

Harrisburg Philadelphia

Hagerstown

Davis

OCEAN:

OCEAN:

OCEAN:

OCEAN:

Temperatures

Precipitation

for the 48 contiguous states excludes Antarctica

Yesterday's National

80° 5:00 p.m.

74° 9:00 a.m.

88°/71°

103° 1954

52° 1895

79° 3:10 p.m.

72° 9:00 a.m.

88°/66°

98° 1999

50° 199 7

80° 3:59 p.m.

72° 6:00 a.m.

87 °/67°

102° 1954

54° 199 7

Washington 1:10 a.m. 6:44 a.m. 2:10 p.m. 7:21 p.m.
Annapolis 4:29 a.m. 11:04 a.m. 4:04 p.m. 10:08 p.m.
Ocean City 12:36 a.m. 6:14 a.m. 12:20 p.m. 6:50 p.m.
Norfolk 2:27 a.m. 8:26 a.m. 2:24 p.m. 8:58 p.m.
Point Lookout 12:12 a.m. 7:27 a.m. 12:10 p.m. 5:55 p.m.

85

°

77 ° 93

°

75 ° 81

°

72 ° 85

°

73 ° 89

°

72 ° 87

°

72 °

Sun 6:09 a.m. 8:19 p.m.

Moon 7:14 p.m. 3:49 a.m.

Venus 2:54 a.m. 5:12 p.m.

Mars 11:25 p.m. 11:55 a.m.

Jupiter 7:08 p.m. 4:40 a.m.

Saturn 7:35 p.m. 5:19 a.m.

Aug 3

Full

Aug 11

Last

Quarter

Aug 18

New

Aug 25

First

Quarter

0.22"

6.51"

3.73"

27 .12"

23.56"

0.52"

4.85"

3.67"

26.58"

24.56"

0.50"

3.43"

4.07"

25.80"

24.66"

Blue Ridge: Today, mostly cloudy, showers, strong t–
storms. High 73–77. Wind south 8–16 mph. Tonight, mostly
cloudy, strong evening t–storms. Low 63–67. Wind south
7–14 mph. Sunday, partly sunny, t–storm in spots. High
74 –78. Wind south 12– 25 mph.

Atlantic beaches: Today, mostly cloudy, afternoon t–storm.
High 82–90. Wind northeast 4–8 mph. Tonight, mostly
cloudy, shower, t–storm. Low 72–78. Wind south 6–12 mph.
Sunday, partly sunny, spotty p.m. t–storm. High 87–96.
Wind south 8–16 mph.

Pollen: Moderate

Grass Low

Tr ees Moderate

Weeds Low

Mold Moderate

UV: Moderate

4 out of 11+

Air Quality: Good

Dominant cause: Ozone

89/75

90/78

82/7 6

85/ 76

84/72

83/7 5

86/ 74

88/74

87/71

87/78

87/78

86/7 4 86/7^4

81/ 72

78/65 85/7 7

74 °

76 °

83°

71 °

Waterways: Upper Potomac River: Today, mostly cloudy, humid,
showers, thunderstorm. Wind east 4–8 knots. Waves a foot or less. •
Lower Potomac and Chesapeake Bay: Today, mostly cloudy, showers,
thunderstorm. Wind southeast 4–8 mph. Waves a foot or less.
Visibility under 2 miles in a thunderstorm.• River Stages: The stage
at Little Falls will be around 2.90 feet today, with no change of 2.90
Sunday. Flood stage at Little Falls is 10 feet.

Albany, NY 87/68/pc 84/70/t

Albuquerque 93/66/pc 93/66/pc

Anchorage 66/57/r 67/56/c

Atlanta 92/72/pc 91/72/pc

Austin 97/70/c 98/72/s

Baltimore 86/74/t 94/74/pc

Billings, MT 92/66/c 92/63/pc

Birmingham 89/70/t 88/69/pc

Bismarck, ND 80/52/s 78/51/pc

Boise 101/65/pc 101/64/s

Boston 81/71/s 84/74/t

Buffalo 88/71/pc 81/67/t

Burlington, VT 87/67/s 85/73/t

Charleston, SC 93/76/pc 91/76/c

Charleston, WV 88/69/t 84/66/c

Charlotte 94/74/pc 92/72/pc

Cheyenne, WY 82/54/s 77/53/t

Chicago 82/68/pc 83/67/t

Cincinnati 81/66/t 79/63/t

Cleveland 77/71/t 76/62/t

Dallas 90/70/pc 95/72/s

Denver 88/58/s 85/58/c

Des Moines 84/65/c 75/60/t

Detroit 80/69/pc 74/64/t

El Paso 98/72/pc 96/73/c

Fairbanks, AK 80/56/c 62/53/r

Fargo, ND 78/57/pc 76/52/s

Hartford, CT 91/70/pc 85/73/t

Honolulu 88/72/pc 87/75/pc

Houston 93/75/t 94/77/pc

Indianapolis 75/63/t 77/64/t

Jackson, MS 90/69/c 89/69/pc

Jacksonville, FL 93/75/pc 87/74/r

Kansas City, MO 82/65/c 78/59/t

Las Vegas 113/82/s 110/80/s

Little Rock 85/67/c 88/68/s

Los Angeles 93/65/s 87/63/pc

Louisville 84/69/t 83/68/pc

Memphis 80/67/t 86/69/pc

Miami 89/80/r 92/81/r

Milwaukee 79/67/pc 79/66/t

Minneapolis 79/63/c 72/55/sh

Nashville 84/66/t 86/68/pc

New Orleans 90/78/t 89/77/t

New York City 86/75/s 87/76/t

Norfolk 90/78/pc 96/78/pc

Oklahoma City 86/65/pc 86/62/c

Omaha 83/62/t 80/57/pc

Orlando 90/78/r 85/76/r

Philadelphia 86/74/pc 91/76/t

Phoenix 111/92/s 112/89/s

Pittsburgh 78/69/t 80/64/t

Portland, ME 85/65/s 80/71/c

Portland, OR 84/61/c 87/63/pc

Providence, RI 89/70/s 84/76/t

Raleigh, NC 93/75/c 92/74/pc

Reno, NV 98/59/s 97/59/s

Richmond 89/75/t 95/74/pc

Sacramento 97/59/s 96/60/s

St. Louis 78/66/t 82/65/t

St. Thomas, VI 89/80/pc 88/80/t

Salt Lake City 103/72/s 103/74/s

San Diego 78/66/s 77/65/pc

San Francisco 71/57/pc 71/58/pc

San Juan, PR 89/78/pc 89/78/t

Seattle 79/60/pc 81/62/pc

Spokane, WA 90/62/pc 93/61/c

Syracuse 87/69/pc 88/68/t

Tampa 94/78/pc 91/81/c

Wichita 88/66/c 83/60/pc

Addis Ababa 67/57/c 68/56/sh

Amsterdam 76/60/t 70/55/pc

Athens 98/79/s 93/76/s

Auckland 59/54/c 60/51/sh

Baghdad 115/82/pc 115/83/pc

Bangkok 91/81/t 90/80/t

Beijing 93/75/t 90/73/t

Berlin 85/61/pc 78/59/t

Bogota 68/44/t 69/46/pc

Brussels 82/59/t 74/55/pc

Buenos Aires 65/58/pc 67/54/t

Cairo 97/73/s 97/77/s

Caracas 76/68/t 76/68/t

Copenhagen 70/62/pc 71/56/t

Dakar 88/81/pc 88/81/c

Dublin 65/51/pc 63/48/pc

Edinburgh 66/51/pc 63/48/pc

Frankfurt 93/66/pc 82/59/t

Geneva 92/66/t 76/62/t

Ham., Bermuda 87/81/pc 87/81/s

Helsinki 71/53/pc 70/56/pc

Ho Chi Minh City 84/78/t 85/78/t

Hong Kong 87/81/r 87/80/sh

Islamabad 92/76/t 96/80/s

Istanbul 88/73/s 85/71/s

Jerusalem 88/66/s 87/70/s

Johannesburg 72/41/pc 72/43/pc

Kabul 93/66/pc 94/65/pc

Kingston, Jam. 88/81/t 89/81/t

Kolkata 94/83/sh 95/83/c

Lagos 84/74/pc 84/74/pc

Lima 65/58/s 64/58/pc

Lisbon 84/62/s 82/64/s

London 78/55/pc 75/56/pc

Madrid 100/70/s 98/68/s

Manila 88/78/r 85/78/c

Mexico City 73/58/t 74/55/sh

Montreal 85/68/pc 81/69/t

Moscow 67/53/sh 66/50/r

Mumbai 87/79/t 88/80/t

Nairobi 75/52/pc 75/51/pc

New Delhi 91/81/t 95/83/t

Oslo 73/58/pc 63/52/sh

Ottawa 86/65/c 79/64/t

Paris 87/61/pc 79/58/pc

Prague 86/62/pc 80/61/t

Rio de Janeiro 75/65/s 74/64/s

Riyadh 116/90/pc 116/91/pc

Rome 92/71/s 89/70/s

San Salvador 90/69/t 88/70/t

Santiago 62/39/c 70/42/pc

Sarajevo 82/55/t 81/55/s

Seoul 79/74/r 81/76/t

Shanghai 95/81/pc 95/81/pc

Singapore 88/81/pc 89/81/pc

Stockholm 75/56/pc 73/56/pc

Sydney 67/46/s 65/46/pc

Taipei City 98/80/s 96/81/s

Tehran 94/76/pc 100/79/pc

Tokyo 84/73/pc 84/73/pc

Toronto 84/68/pc 80/64/t

Vienna 86/58/s 87/66/pc

Warsaw 77/53/pc 81/60/s

Today

Strong

t-storms late

Sunday

Humid, partly

sunny

Monday

Showers,

t-storm

Tuesday

Shower or

t-storm

Wednesday

Partly sunny,

t-storm

Thursday

Partly sunny,

t-storm

M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M

through 5 p.m.yesterday

Difference from 30–yr. avg. (Reagan): this month: +4.1° yr. to date: +2.8°

High: Palm Springs, CA 120°

Low: Bodie State Park, CA 35°

World

High: Basrah, Iraq 126°

Low: Summit Station, Greenland 6°

Weather map features for noon today.

WIND:SSE 4–8 mph

HUMIDITY:Very High

CHNCE PRECIP:60%

FEELS*:94°

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:99°

SW 8–16 mph

Very High

25%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:88°

SSW 6–12 mph

High

80%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:92°

S 7–14 mph

High

60%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:95°

WNW 6–12 mph

High

40%

W:

H:

P:

FEELS:92°

NW 4–8 mph

Moderate

30%

Cloudy with a chance of storms

Today is looking cloudy, and
temperatures will rise to the low and
mid-80s. There is a chance storms
may develop. Tonight, it stays cloudy
and muggy. Low temperatures likely
bottom out around 70 degrees.

The Weather

WASHINGTONPOST.COM/WEATHER. TWITTER: @CAPITALWEATHER. FACEBOOK.COM/CAPITALWEATHER

the bulk of the boat is being built
of lightweight panels of high-
density, polyurethane foam rein-
forced with layers of fiberglass.
It’s so light that the boat will
require ballasts of about 12,00 0
pounds of lead ingots to keep its
battery-powered motors sub-
merged in the water.
Final assembly and “sea trials”
are s cheduled for the fall, and the
boat is expected to make its canal
debut early next year.
The boat was designed by
Tridentis, the Alexandria naval
architecture firm, for George-
town Heritage, the nonprofit
working to revitalize historical
Georgetown and its one-mile
stretch of the C&O Canal Nation-
al Historical Park.
Tridentis does mostly high-
tech work for the Defense De-
partment, on such things as
aircraft carriers and submarines.
“We’ve never designed or built a
mule-powered canal boat be-
fore,” said Chris Addington, the
project’s program manager.
He said Georgetown Heritage
and the National Park Service,
which runs the historical park,
wanted the new boat to preserve
the “soul” of the old boats.
“It still has the look of the
original,” Addington said. “We
worked... t o try to design a boat
that has the soul but is also a...
21st-century constructed vessel.”
The firm studied old drawings
of the canal’s locks and boats.
From those, Addington said,
“we’ve been able to glean things
such as the exterior visuals —
where the windows were located,

RETROPOLIS FROM B1

Modernized

canal boat

to have its

debut in ’21

what did they look like.”

A previous boat, the old blue-

and-white Georgetown, operated

for almost 30 years but was

decommissioned in 2011 due to

extensive damage. It sat molder-

ing in the canal, until 2016, when

Georgetown Heritage and the

National Park Service removed

it.

“It was made of wood, which

was waterlogged and damaged

over time,” Addington said.

Georgetown Heritage wanted

to reduce maintenance as much

as possible for the new boat.

“They wanted it to last fifty

years, with as little updating and

overhauling as we can get,” he

said. So the boat is being built

with planks of a material called

Coosa, which is made in Pelham,

Ala.

“It’s not going to rot, get

waterlogged, [or] deform,” Add-

ington said. “It’s going to last for

JOEL RICHARDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

FROM TOP: A costumed National Park Service employee leads a

pair of mules through the C&O Canal in 1985. Mules will be used

for the upcoming vessel, as will small electric motors. In the canal’s

prime in the mid-to-late 1800s, scores of boats traveled it.

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