Aerial of the Lift Bridge and City Dock

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: aerial of the Lift Bridge and City Dock

Here’s a terrific 1929 aerial view of parts of north and south Chesapeake City and the lift bridge. This bridge was opened for traffic in 1926, seven years after the Corps of Engineers bought the canal from the Canal Company in 1919. At left is what was left of Long Bridge, which was removed in the early thirties. You can see the Rio Theater in the distance towards the middle left and in the foreground what is left of the lock that had serviced the canal for many years. At right are Lock Street and the old Schaefer’s store, along with the large Ericsson Line building owned then by Roger Woolyhan. The swampy area just above the lift bridge was where my grandfather, Harper Hazel, worked as a timber man to break down the white pine rafts so the logs could fit through the three canal locks on their way to the Delaware River.