Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal Historic District

This linear district in Chesapeake, Virginia, follows the 9.1-mile Virginia Cut of the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal, which links the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River with the North Landing River. Dug between 1856 and 1859 under the canal company led by Marshall Parks, Jr., it was among the first canals designed for steam vessels, had no towpath, and was the first in Virginia built entirely by steam dredging. Its reversible tidal lock at Great Bridge was the largest of its kind on the East Coast. The federal government bought the canal in 1913 and folded it into the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Army Corps of Engineers widened it, built a maintenance reservation with eight contributing buildings dating from 1917 to 1948, and completed the present 600-foot lock in 1931-1932. The district also contains the site of the Battle of Great Bridge, fought in December 1775, the first Revolutionary War engagement in Virginia. Its period of significance runs from 1775 to 1953.