The Custom House in Chestertown has now been converted into classrooms for teaching Colonial maritime history and the Schooner Sultana, moored just behind the building, is used for training over 5,000 students each year. The Sultana is a replica of a Boston-built merchant vessel (by the same name) that patrolled the North American coastline and the Chesapeake Bay area before the Revolutionary War enforcing England's "Tea Taxes."
In the mid-17th century merchants realized that the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay were only separated by a narrow strip of land and if a waterway could be constructed that would connect the two bodies of water it would save about 300 water-route miles between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Business leaders, including Benjamin Franklin, strongly supported the idea. However, it wasn't until 1824, under the direction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that substantial construction started on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal).
By 1829 the 14-mile long canal had been completed. Teams of mules and horses towed barges, schooners, and sloops through the canal and locks that were 100 feet long and 22 feet wide were used to raise and lower ships for elevation changes. Over the years the canal was widened and deepened to accommodate more and larger vessels; however, the loss of water in the locks was always a problem. Therefore, in 1919 the Federal government purchased the canal for $2.5 million and the U.S. Corps of Engineers was assigned the responsibility for operating, maintaining, and improving the waterway. The Corps then spent $10 million to relocate the east canal entrance and converted the canal to a sea-level operation by removing the locks and deepening the canal. Over the years the canal has been widened and deepened several times and ships up to 750 feet long can now pass through the canal.
One of the old lock pump houses with a waterwheel and pumping engine has been preserved and converted to a museum. The steam boilers appeared to be in such good condition that they could probably still be used today. Although the large liftwheel rotated at only 1.5 revolutions per minute, it raised 1,200,000 gallons of water per hour. If you are mechanically inclined, this is really an interesting stop. If you are not mechanically inclined, my wife tells me that it is enjoyable to sit on a bench by the edge of the canal and watch the ships go by!
No visit to the east coast would be complete without visiting a covered bridge, and I finally found one located not too far from Elkton. Cilpin's Falls Covered Bridge was constructed in 1860 and is one of the few covered bridges left in Maryland. The bridge was restored in 1959 through the joint efforts of the Maryland State Roads Commission and the Historical Society of Cecil County.
In the 1920s Harvey Ladew visited England and became enchanted with the art of topiary, so he returned to his home in Maryland and started his own gardens. The Ladew Topiary Gardens, located northwest of Bel Air, are still under private ownership and now contain 15 thematic flower gardens on 22 acres of land. Our visit to the area was a little too early in the year, but a few of the flowers were in bloom.
Since we had a few hours to spend before we had to be at the airport, we decided to turn off the GPS unit and just try to find our way using only small back roads. By the time I reached Monkton, I was already off course, so I reconnected the GPS unit for the rest of the trip.
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