National Heritage Area: Augusta Canal

The National Heritage Areas are not "official" park units and are not counted as part of the 393 National Parks.  There are 49 such areas in the United States, and Augusta Canal is one of them.  there are 2 parts to this Area, and this is the Headlocks part, which is actually located in Martinez, Georgia, about 10 miles outside of town. 

This is the visitor's center, which was actually the gatekeeper's cottage.  It has some displays in it, and is shared by the County that Martinez is in, Columbia, as a visitors center, and staffed by them.  There was a very knowlegeable docent there that showed us the various exhibits, which included a display of paintings from Ellis Island, for some reason. 

This is part of the lock system, and fed the canal with water diverted from the Savannah River- this mechanisim dated from the late 1800's. 

Another view that shows how the canal was fed with water.  This is a very pretty spot on the river.  There were no pins to be had, be we did get a stamp.  We went downtown to visit the other unit of the Canal, but it was closed for the holiday.  Have to report on that on a later visit, perhaps during Christmas.