CLUBFOOT-HARLOWE

Inscription

CLUBFOOT-HARLOWE
CANAL CONNECTING NEUSE AND
NEWPORT RIVERS PROPOSED 1766.
CONSTRUCTION BEGAN CA. 1823.
CANAL OPENED 1827. REMAINS
OF CANAL 100 YARDS EAST.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2020

The remains of the Clubfoot and Harlowe Canal are found 100 yards east from this site in Newport, North Carolina. Proposed as early as 1766, the Clubfoot Harlowe Canal was intended to connect the Neuse and Newport Rivers, as described in the Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly:

Whereas the Navigation of the River Neuse is not sufficient for Vessels of great Burthen, by reason of the small Depth of Water through the Swatch leasing from Ocacock Bar into the Sound; and the Inlet of Old Topsail being very safe and Navigable for Vessels of Great Burthern, where they may ride within the same a safe and Commodious Harbor, the Navigation of which may be joined to the River Neuse by cutting a Canal, a small Distance, from the Head of Harlow’s Creek to the Head of the Club Foot’s Creek.

With Clubfoot Creek feeding into the Neuse River and Harlowe Creek located near the Newport River, a canal connecting the two creeks, seemed a logical solution to allow boats easily transport from one location to the other. While approved for construction in 1766, the American Revolution along with several other factors delayed efforts for more than 50 years. It was not until 1823 that construction of the canal officially began. Requiring four years to build, the canal officially opened for navigation on July 4th, 1827. The Newbern Sentinel described the event in a July 14th 1827 article:

Agreeable to previous notice, a large number of citizens of Carteret and Craven Counties, met at the Clubfoot and Harlow’s Creek Canal, on the 4th day of July, for the purpose of celebrating the completion of the Canal and the 51st Anniversary -The Sloop De Witt Clinton, of twenty tons burthen, with several gentlemen of the company onboard passed through the Canal into Clubfoot’s Creek.

The completion of the canal was met with excitement from the surrounding community and was successful in its early days. Not quite 20 years later, by 1846, the Clubfoot and Harlowe Creek Canal Company was listed for sale. While the company was sold, the canal remained in use for a number of years and still exists today.