Interactive Maps
Mount Vernon to Anacostia River
Search Potomac Sites
Also Explore
| The Hudson River Guide | The Delaware River Guide |
| NEW! The Connecticut River Guide | |
Little Falls Skirting Canal
Washington Historic Site
From C&O Canal mile 3 to mile 5 is the site of the Little Falls Skirting Canal, a project of George Washington and his Patowmack Co. to avoid the Little Falls. It was one of five canals built on the Potomac to avoid falls and rapids. Evidence of the canal has been obscured by the construction of the C&O Canal., where it became part of a "Feeder Canal" to supply water to the C&O Canal. The original Skirting Canal extended from above the rapids to near the current site of Fletcher's Cove. The Abner Cloud House, near Fletcher's Boat House in the District of Columbia, was built with a mill on the site of the Little Falls Skirting Canal.
Additional evidence of the Patowmack Company canals can be found at the Patowmack Canal at Great Falls, Virginia; the Virginia Canal near Seneca Lake; and Virginius Island near Harpers Ferry.
Suggested Links
Contact Information
C&O Canal National Historical Park
11701 MacArthur Blvd.
Potomac MD 20854
Website