Video: N.C. Canal marks 150 years of activity

COINJOCK, N.C.

A 147-foot-long yacht docked at the Coinjock Marina last week, one of an increasing number of recreational vessels 100 feet or more in length passing through the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.

Marina owner Louis Davis filled the yacht with 5,000 gallons of gas, and 13 people ate dinner at the marina's restaurant.

"They always trade up," he said Tuesday. "They used to be 70-footers. Now they're 100-footers."

In 2008, about 10,000 vessels plied through the 5 -mile-long segment of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal that connects the Currituck Sound and the North River through Coinjock.

A celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal will be held at 3 p.m. today at Currituck Middle School. The event is coordinated by the Coinjock Ruritan Club and the Currituck Historical Society.

"Juniper Waterway: A History of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal," by Alexander Crosby Brown, will be available for sale.

Also on display will be rare photos of Long Point, an island along the canal where fuel was manufactured to illuminate coastal lighthouses.

Proposed by William Byrd II in 1728, construction of the canal didn't begin until 1855 after delays caused by engineering problems, two wars and completion of the Dismal Swamp Canal, according to an online history compiled by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Dug by steam-powered dredges, the canal passed through natural waterways and two man-made cuts, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina, totaling 75 miles, based on an online history by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. The North Carolina cut passed through Coinjock.

Thanks to the canal, Coinjock prospered in the late 1800s and early 1900s, said Barbara Snowden, a Currituck County historian who will speak at today's ceremony.

Believed to be named for an Indian phrase meaning "land of the blueberry bog," Coinjock was once located about two miles north where Barco is now. After completion of the canal, businesses moved to the waterfront, Snowden said.

River boat merchants and a floating theater often passed through, she said. A bowling alley and a movie theater attracted locals from miles away, even though they had to drive on muddy, rut-filled roads. General stores served as gathering places.

Renowned boat builder Pat O'Neal had his shop along the canal. Most of the establishments located near the drawbridge that was part of U.S. 158. Midway Marina and Motel, including a restaurant, sits on the other side of the canal.

When boats passed through the canal, the old drawbridge opened, creating long lines of traffic going to and coming from the Outer Banks. In 1985, a new high-rise bridge bypassed the small Coinjock community.

Now, the two marinas and their restaurants are the most prominent businesses and provide a small segment of Currituck's tourism industry, said Diane Nordstrom, director of the Currituck County Travel and Tourism Department.

In the 1990s, Currituck County tried to attract marine-type businesses to the canal banks. A few boat construction companies showed interest.

But fitting its original name, wetlands line much of the 5 -mile-long shoreline. The marinas and a few homes sit on most of the available high land.

The county has no current plans for economic development there, commissioner Paul O'Neal said.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0158, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com