By Jay Lloyd

CHESAPEAKE CITY, Md. (CBS) –  There are a pair of getaway gem towns that are often overlooked but very close to home.

They’re both on the nearby Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, an engineering marvel that has been a boon to shipping — and provides weekend getaway magic as well.

For many of us the canal is within an hour of home, and it’s rich in restaurants, shopping, B&Bs, and outdoor activities.

The canal itself connects the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and allows recreational boats, tankers, freighters, and passenger ships an easy path between Philadelphia and Baltimore.

At the eastern end is Delaware City, Del.; on the west, Chesapeake City, Md.

“The C&D Canal is commerce, it’s recreation, and it’s history,” says Tim Konkus, a Delaware City booster and marina operator.

He never tires of just watching the ships slowly cruising through this manmade waterway.  Visitors, he notes, are often amazed.  Look for displays that tell the story, and get a seafood fix at Crabby Dick’s.

In Chesapeake City you can get fine dining at Bayard’s, overnight at a B&B, eat hardshell crabs at the Tap Room, and dance the evening away at the Chesapeake Inn.

Who would have known?

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