C&O Canal - Lock #16 - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

Six Locks #2

This is the sixteenth lock, heading west, in the Chesapeake and Ohio canal system. It is located in Montgomery County, Maryland, in the area known as Six Locks, due to the presence of six canal locks in the span of under a mile. This is the second of the six locks. It is located at canal milepost 13.63.

Just upstream of Lock 16, between 16 and 17 is an original Stop Lock. Stop locks were masonry structures set on either side of the canal with a channel in them in which planks could be dropped to create a makeshift dam and temporarily divert canal flow into the Potomac River in the event of a flood or the necessity to drain a portion of the canal.

Locks 15 through 20 are all within 0.85 miles along the towpath and can all be easily reached by parking at Great Falls Park, on the Maryland side. There is much to do here - in addition to the canal and the six locks, there is a small museum in the old Great Falls Tavern building. Refreshments are available here, as well as restrooms. There are also some excellent overlooks into the great gorge of the Potomac, a network of trails through the park and around the old Maryland Gold Mine and a canal boat replica. If you are interested in the history of the area and/or canal transportation in general, there are remnants, including locks, of George Washington's original Patowmack Canal on the Virginia side of Great Falls. If you wish to hike the canal path PAST lock 15 heading south/east, it is a short distance past lock 15 to widewater, site of some excellent fishing, and a just a bit further (approximately one mile) to the Old Angler's Inn where you can relax and enjoy some very good food.

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The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal runs 184.5 miles from Georgetown in Washington, DC to Cumberland, Maryland, paralleling the largely unnavigable Potomac River. Originally conceived by George Washington, the intent of the canal was to open shipping to the coal-rich area of Western Maryland, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, with the original intention of linking to the Ohio River in Pittsburgh.

Construction of the canal began on July 4, 1828, the same day that ground was broken for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Baltimore, Maryland. By the time the canal reached Cumberland in 1850 it was many years behind schedule and tens of millions of dollars over budget. Although profitable for a brief period during the mid-19th century, as a commercial venture, the canal was doomed by the success of the railroad and operation of the canal was discontinued in 1924 following a catastrophic flood.

In 1938, the federal government acquired the canal land from the then-owner, the B&O Railroad with the intention of converting the canal and towpath into a highway, an idea that persisted well into the 1950's. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas campaigned for the preservation of the land and garnered much publicity by walking the entire towpath in March of 1954 eventually leading to the abandonment of the highway plan. The entire 184.5 miles of canal land were made into a National Historical Park by President Nixon in 1971.

For more information on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, visit www.candocanal.org

Waterway Name: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Connected Points: Georgetown, DC to Cumberland, Maryland Type: Lock Date Opened: 09/01/1831 Date Closed (if applicable): 03/29/1924 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Inactive Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/03/2012 Searcher28 visited it