JAMES RIVER and the JAMES RIVER & KANAWHA CANAL Near 20 Ninth Street (Old Canal Bridge)

The James River and adjacent James River and Kanawha Canal were Lynchburg’s commercial lifelines until the advent of the railroad in the 1850’s. Countless enslaved people were transported to and from Virginia’s largest slave market in Richmond by river and canal. Enslaved men provided much of the labor to build the canal beginning in 1836. African Americans were also integral to the daily operation of batteaux and canal boats as pilots, polers, deck hands, stewards, and stevedores.