Georgetown Connections

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Did you know that you can hop on a bicycle today on the Georgetown campus, ride down the hill under Canal Road and then follow the same historic trail 300 miles all the way to Pittsburgh? History is a fabric that weaves together elements of time and place. This 5-week course will explore local connections between the neighborhood of Georgetown and Washington, DC / Maryland as well as regional connections between the Chesapeake and Ohio River watersheds as they have evolved over the last 200 years. Each student will be required to complete a research paper and class presentation in the final week addressing 1 of 4 weekly themes: environmental sustainability, westward expansion, changing border lines and modern echoes. Students will combine research into targeted topics with in-person experiential learning through hiking and biking along the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal, the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Rail / Crescent Trail and the DC Trolley Trail. All three historic transportation corridors intersect in the vicinity of Georgetown's Car Barn. Together, they trace Georgetown's evolution from a small port town to an integral link in the nation's westward expansion across the Eastern Continental Divide. They also trace a history of connection and conflict, from Maryland's experience as a border state during the Civil War to the interplay among diverse communities in the Washington, DC region that has continued to the present day as each community struggles to define itself and expand or limit its connections with neighboring communities.