"Old Georgetown Waterfront - 1886" by Paul McGehee. The moonlit Washington, D.C. shoreline at Georgetown, showing the towers of Healy Hall at Georgetown University and sailing ships loading coal from barges on the C & O Canal. The foreground, on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, shows the Alexandria Canal feeding onto the Aqueduct Bridge, which at that time carried both water traffic on the lower level and vehicular traffic on the upper level...and engineering marvel of its day. The Aqueduct Bridge, completed in 1843 was at first built exclusively for canal barges, but as years went by the top layer was constructed (with the aid of Howe Trusses) for foot traffic, horses and wagons. In the fashion depicted it was closed at the end of 1886, to be replaced by a metal trestle structure three years later. With the bridge closed at the end of 1886, it also meant the demise of the old Alexandria Canal, then leaving just the C & O Canal on the Georgetown side to handle freight coming in by barge to the Nation's Capital. The present-day Key Bridge (named for Francis Scott Key, whose house appears at middle right) was completed next to the old Aqueduct Bridge in 1923...it is still in use today even though the older bridge is long gone, having been dismantled in 1933 after years of being closed to traffic. However, one can still see the stone abutment for the Aqueduct Bridge on the Georgetown shoreline, and one of the original stone piers on the Arlington side of the river. "Old Georgetown Waterfront - 1886" is faithfully reproduced from Paul's original color pencil and acrylic artwork in a limited edition of 2,000 hand-signed prints. Print image size 11" x 19 1/4".