Rapidan Dam Canal of the Rappahannock Navigation

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. 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.HistoryConstruction of the original Rapidan Canal, sometimes referred to as the "Old Rapidan Canal," started on the north bank of the Rappahannock River in the 1830s, fell into disrepair during the mid- and late 1830s and was abandoned entirely in the 1840s when construction of the new canal on the south bank was complete and the new canal serviceable.