Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: High Bridge – Part 3

Here’s an east view of the old High Bridge. You can see two old cars crossing over to Hemphill Street. An older Chesapeake City resident told me that one time, when his grandfather tried to drive a heavy horse and wagon across, the bridge collapsed into the canal. The building just to the right of the first car was the Woolley House.

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: High Bridge – Part 2

 

Here’s a shot of the wooden swing bridge (High Bridge) looking north towards Chesapeake City’s Hemphill Street. This bridge spanning the narrow canal was activated by the tender engaging a small electric motor. The bridge pivoted from the North Side and swung towards the east. Note the bridge tender’s shack at left.

Canal Bridges

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: High Bridge

The photos and commentary for the next few weeks will be about the bridges that spanned the canal in the Chesapeake City area from about 1907 until 1949. This early post card shows the early, narrow canal, with the towpath on the right (North Side). The bridge in the distance is High Bridge, with the Corps of Engineers’ buildings off to the left (note the smoke stack for the large steam pump that brought the water from Back Creek to the locked canal. The bridge spanned Hemphill Street on the right with the Causeway on the left. The Causeway eventually led to Rees’ Wharf, AKA City Dock, which is now where the Miss Clare moors at Pell Gardens.

South Side Ferry View

Ferry View – South Side

Here’s a view of the South Side ferry slip. Note the Inn at the Canal (once Ralph Rees’ residence) at the far left on Bohemia Avenue. Flo Johnson Craig told me a story about riding in a car with her mother and uncle when she was a young girl. Her uncle was driving, and when they came off the ferry and made the sharp left turn towards home, the door flew open and she tumbled out onto the shoulder. She was not injured because she landed on a soft, grassy area.

Ferry Slip Road – South Side

Ferry Slip Road – South Side

 

This is the Ferry Slip Road (circa 1944), the South Side approach to the ferry slip. In the early forties this road was put in especially for the ferry. There’s a story that, when they were working on this very marshy area, a bulldozer disappeared when it was sucked down into the quicksand. I don’t know if the story is true or not . . . but I hope it is! If you dig in the area and find it, let me know. You can see the small shack (at left) where folks could wait for the ferry in bad weather. On weekends in the summer months there was sometimes a long line of cars waiting for the ferry. The line would extend as far south as Randalia Road. Many resourceful kids (me included) would sell cold sodas and vegetables to people waiting in line for the ferry.