🚢 Landsford Canal

The Landsford Canal is a navigation channel that opened in 1823 with the purpose of bypassing rapids along the Catawba River to allow efficient freight transport and quick travel between nearby communities and settlements across the rural frontiers of the era. It had five locks operating over a stretch of two miles (3.2 km) with an elevation change overall of 32–34 feet (9.8–10.4 m). It was part of the inland navigation system from the 'Up Country' to Charleston, built systematically from 1819, and the navigations are today the centerpiece of Canal State Park:The Canal State Park consists of three sets of locks, a mill site, miller's house, and a lockkeeper's house—all in various forms of decay and ruins.