Patowmac Canal - Great Falls, VA

There was an urgency for a means to swiftly travel and move goods throughout the new nation after the American Revolution.  George Washington was a major force in promoting canals as a means to connect the Eastern Seaboard to the Great Lakes and Ohio River.  In 1785, four years prior to his being elected President of the United States, he and several other investors founded the Potowmack Company which made navigation possible on the Potomac River by building canals to skirt the major falls which prevented barges from continuing down the river prior to the building of the canals and locks.  The Patowmac Canal made barge navigation possible from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown/Washington, D.C.  It met the National Road in Cumberland allowing goods from west of the Appalachian Mountains to move to the Eastern Seaboard via the Chesapeake Bay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patowmack_Canal

https://www.nps.gov/grfa/learn/historyculture/canal.htm

Potomac River Great Falls - Virginia

Lock-tender's House Pawtowmack Canal - Great Falls, Virginia