A Navigation Canal Becomes a Raceway
The Rappahannock Navigation system provided a means to transport bulk cargo between Fredericksburg and upriver farms and mines. In 1829, with financial assistance from Virginia’s Board for Public Works, the Rappahannock Company began construction of a series of canals and related dams. The canal section in front of you was three and one half miles long and routed boats around the river’s falls.
By 1849, a 50-mile navigation system had been extended upstream. Insufficient revenues, however, cause the Commonwealth to foreclose on its loan in 1853. In 1854-1855, the Fredericksburg Water Power Company acquired this portion of the navigation system and constructed a dam across the Rappahannock River that shortened this canal section by a mile and a half. This new structure altered the canal’s function from navigation to water power. This upper canal eventually powered several local industries.
Marker can be reached from Fall Hill Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
