View from highway Crossing Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal runs 14 miles long, 450 feet wide and 35 feet deep across Maryland and Delaware, connecting the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay and the Port of Baltimore. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering landmark. The canal is unique as the sole major commercial navigation waterway in the United States built during the early 1800s still in use. Forests, rivers, parks and campgrounds provide the ideal setting for some of the state's best outdoor adventures. Canoeing. Fishing. Golfing. Biking. Hiking. Bird-watching. Horse-riding. Hunting. Boating. There's something for everyone throughout the year, from the 90-mile coastline to the hundreds of miles of nature trails inland.