Back in 2013 I wrote about the Susquehanna River. More specifically on the droughts and the need for Baltimore to withdraw water from the river. This is done through the intake structures above the Conowingo Dam.

During the research for my water history book, I read the various water engineering reports concerning the need for alternate water sources. The Susquehanna came up quite a few times. In one of the reports it was mentioned that there were 13 – 16 various sewage plants along the river. After the drought of 2010 and our using the Susquehanna River as a source of water, I decided to take a field trip to see this river.

I started in 2011 and it took a while to be able to hike and drive along the river. It is 444 miles long (Depending on who you ask), from Cooperstown NY to Havre de Grace Md. No, I did not walk and drive the whole way in one outing. I would drive to a town or just outside it, get out and start hiking for a few miles, up one side and down the other. I would head back to Baltimore then a couple weeks later, ride to the next town until I got far enough north, I just drove all the way to Cooperstown and started hiking/driving south. Climbing under bridges over train tracks and thru some strange parts of towns, hearing a variety of stories about the river. I visited such communities and areas as Goodyear Lake, Binghamton, Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, Three Mile Island, Columbia, Turkey Hill, etc.

I was going to do a photo-journal book about my travels but sometimes life gets in the way and I just never had a chance to finish the book. There are two excellent books on the Susquehanna that I wish I read before I started my travels – Susquehanna: River of Dreams and Down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake.

Today, Kathy and I visited Havre de Grace. Always an adventure!

Part of the Susquehanna Locks. While hiking through here years ago, I came across a lot of these, mostly hidden and grown over.

Lock House – who has a key to the lock house?

Rte 40 Hatem Bridge, old RR bridge and Interstate 95.

And yes, there is a boat – kayak ramp!

Always alone, but never alone…

This guys head just bobbed up and down with the ripples of tide

Me: Oh look, an 1812 candle holder! Kathy: It’s a corn cob holder for the squirrels. I knew that!

The pier.

It a piers that part of the pier is missing.

Concord Point lighthouse.

Some history

As many photographs that I have taken of this, I just always liked it in black and white