A regional event coming up at Halifax Community College will dive into the 200-year history and impact of the Weldon Aqueduct and the Roanoke Canal that helped develop North Carolina and Virginia.
“From the Mountains to the Sea, All the Goods Traveled Over Me: The Weldon Aqueduct” is the title and focus of the next Weldon Heritage Speaker Series at the college. The free public event from 5:30-7 p.m. on Sept. 19 is sponsored by the nonprofit Weldon In Action and hosted by the college in room 825 of the Advanced Manufacturing and Corporate Training Center.
Otis “Nat” Vaughan will talk about the aqueduct’s history and national significance. The Brunswick County, Virginia, native, longtime Halifax County resident, former Weldon town commissioner, former Chowan University board of trustees member and professional forester retiree will also share some stories about the historic structure’s value and significance in his personal and former work life.
Brian Coffield and William “Bill” E. Trout III, Ph.D., of the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, will provide the broader historical context of the region’s man-made aqueducts, canals and inland waterways. A Lynchburg, Virginia-area book and river atlas author, Trout played a significant role in the formation and later leadership of the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society in 1977, the American Canal Society in 1972 and the annual and popular James River Bateau Festival in 1986. Trout’s most recent publication, “Amazing Virginia Canals,” was published in 2019. The University of Richmond and Indiana University graduate is a member of the American Canal Society Hall of Fame.
An audience question-and-answer segment will follow the presentations and light refreshments will be provided at the conclusion to this fifth event in the Weldon Heritage Speaker Series, which began in October 2022.
“Weldon In Action invites our neighboring Virginians and our fellow North Carolinians to join us as we celebrate 200 years of having by far one of the United States’ finest structures of its type right here in Weldon, Halifax County,” said Francis Kyle, volunteer co-founder, lead event coordinator and moderator of the Weldon Heritage Speaker Series.
The aqueduct is a 110-foot-long heavy granite structure with a 28-foot-wide tunnel and 32-foot single arch between abutments. It bridges Chockoyotte Creek in Weldon is considered an architectural gem and a masterpiece of masonry workmanship, Kyle said. It remains in excellent condition.
Constructed during the pre-railroad golden era of American canal building (from 1790 to 1855) the aqueduct and over seven miles of the Roanoke Canal were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 1984, the local Roanoke Canal Commission was charted “to promote the development and to maintain the natural beauty and historic area” and helped establish the Roanoke Canal Museum in Roanoke Rapids.
An observation deck overlooking the south side of the aqueduct and the A. Edwin Akers Aqueduct Park are part of the Roanoke Canal Trail. The aqueduct and park are accessible after a short walk from the dirt parking lot on Aqueduct Road in Weldon, near the Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District wastewater treatment plant and off of N.C. 158 and Ponderosa Road.
According to the 2009 Historic American Landscapes Survey by the National Park Service, the Roanoke Canal contains “some of the most important and best preserved early 19th century canal construction in the nation. The 7.2-mile Roanoke Canal Trail and its contributing resources tell the story of transportation and a developing way of life along the Roanoke River from the early 1800s to today.”
It was begun before 1819 under the initial leadership of the civil engineer Hamilton Fulton (1781-1833) of Scotland and completed in 1823 as the North Carolina segment of the ambitious Roanoke Navigation System, the survey said. It was designed to connect the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and Norfolk along the Roanoke River over a distance of 400 miles.
The Roanoke Canal followed the Roanoke River. A fall line from the Piedmont Region to the Coastal Plain occurs between Roanoke Rapids and Weldon, where the river drops 100 feet in a few miles, creating a series of rapids. This major obstacle was overcome by the construction of a 9-mile bateau canal with locks. The excavation of the canal bed was extremely difficult due to large amounts of rock.
“The locks, and the aqueduct spanning Chockoyotte Creek, were constructed of native granite — and possibly by Portuguese stone masons per local lore but impossible to verify,” the survey said.
On Saturday, Sept. 14, the Weldon In Action co-hosted Saturdays in the Park will have the aqueduct and canal bicentennial as its theme. The family-friendly free outdoor event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in and near Central Park, along the 100 and 200 blocks of Washington Avenue in Weldon. As an effort to support local businesses and increase community spirit, this periodic Saturday gathering features live classic rock and other music by Cuz’n Kirk and a pop-up market, food vendors and face painting for kids.
For more information about the events or to contact Weldon In Action, visit weldoninaction.com and their social media platforms, weldonncevents.com or email admin@weldoninaction.com.
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