LocktoberfestDC: Biking Tour #3 - Alexandria Joins The (Canal) Party

This tour explores the Alexandria Canal and how the City of Alexandria benefited by joining the Washington D.C. system of canals.
About this Event

LocktoberfestDC is a series of free guided walking and biking tours celebrating the three major canals that served 19th-century Washington D.C. Our walking and biking tours are followed by a pay-as-you-go Bavarian-style Oktoberfest celebration.

We meet at the northwest intersection of Montgomery St and N Pitt St in Old Town Alexandria. We ride a short distance to restored Lock 1, where the Alexandria Canal met the Potomac River. From there we explore the historic locations of Locks 2, 3, and 4, and see some interesting interpretive signs and remnants of the old canal. From there we ride north towards Georgetown along a path mimicking the original canal path (it is not possible to follow the exact route of the long-buried canal). Along the way we see the location of the aqueduct that carried canal boats over Four Mile Run. Continuing north, we arrive at today's Key Bridge, which was built just to the east of the historic Alexandria Aqueduct Bridge, the remnants of which we see hidden in plain sight. From 1843-1886 canal boats would cross the Potomac River from Virginia to Georgetown and enter the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal. We cross Key Bridge toreach the C&O Canal and see the historic towpath, an operational lift lock, a replica of a packet boat typical of the times, and a recognition of a man who helped save the C&O Canal as a National Park. We then ride to C&O Canal Mile 0, a stone marker at the canal's southeastern terminus. Here we see the ruins of Tide Lock A that connected the C&O Canal to the Potomac River. Then we ride along the footprint of the historic C&O Canal Extension until reaching its terminus at the Lockkeeper's House (where nothing remains of the historic Tide Lock B). At the Lockkeeper's House the house docent will explain the history of the house as well as the massive project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create West Potomac Park and East Potomac Park, thus creating man-made land which covered the historic canal extension. From the Lockkeepers House, participants are encouraged to attend our LocktoberfestDC Celebration, our pay-as-you-go Bavarian-style Oktoberfest at Sauf Haus Bier Hall & Garten which runs 3:00PM-5:00PM. Sauf Haus is an easy one mile bike ride from the end of the tour.