Rapidan Dam Canal of the Fredericksburg Navigation - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Rapidan Dam Canal of the Fredericksburg Navigation - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Rapidan Dam Canal of the Rappahannock Navigation is a canal intended to safely carry Batteaus, sturdy flat-bottomed boats used primarily for transporting cargo, around the rapids at the confluence of the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers. The Rapidan Canal, funded and constructed by The Rappahannock Company, consists of two different canals (the Old Rapidan Canal and the Rapidan Canal) built at different times. All of the Rappahannock Navigation, of which the Rapidan Canal is a part, is located in the Piedmont region of Virginia. The Confluence, the name used on maps of the day and sometimes maps of today to denote where the two rivers meet, is located where the borders of the Virginia Counties of Spotsylvania, Stafford and Culpeper meet but is owned by the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia.This is because when the Rapahannock Company, a private enterprise of investors whose goal was to make the Rappahannock navaigable, failed the assets were distributed among the investors, of which the City of Fredericksburg was the largest. The Rapidan Canal was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) on June 19, 1973, and on the National Register of Historic Places on July 26, 1973.US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory and Nomination Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org