Augusta Canal National Heritage Area

Built in 1845 as a source of power, water and transportation, the Augusta Canal is the only intact industrial canal in the American South in continuous use. During the Civil War it was the site of the Confederate States of America Powderworks complex. Deepened and widened in the 1870s, the canal brought an industrial boom to the city, especially in textile manufacturing. In 1975 the Canal and its mills were listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared National Historic Landmark in 1978. In 1996 the United States Congress designated the Augusta Canal and nearby land a National Heritage Area. Several canal-side structures pre-date the War Between the States and others to the later 19th Century and the heyday of America’s Industrial revolution. Although the Augusta Canal is man-made, many areas along its banks have returned to a more natural state. The canal occupies a unique ecosystem created along the granite ledges that separate the Piedmont plateau from the Coastal plain –an area known as The Fall Line. The undeveloped land between the canal and the Savannah River rapids along the upper First Level has formed a wetland, creating an urban wildlife refuge that is home to varied flora and fauna, including several rare and endangered species.