Upstream end of Lock 60 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Lock 60 is located at Mile 149.6 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath. It is not accessible by vehicle. The closest parking area is at the Paw Paw Tunnel Campground, and from there it is 6.8 miles downstream. See the Locks and Lockhouses web page for an interactive location map.
Lock 60 is one of eight locks on a remote 15-mile stretch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal between the Paw Paw Tunnel and the Fifteenmile Creek Aqueduct that has no vehicle access. Most of these locks are only seen by those hiking or biking part or the entirety of the C & O Canal.
Locks on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal were typically made using cut stones that fit tightly together with mortar and had a very finished look. However, by the time the locks on the upper end of the canal were constructed in the early 1840s, the C&O Canal Company was in financial trouble, and it was evident that the railroad was going to put the canal out of business. To save money, locks 58 through 71 were constructed from rough, uncut stones with large gaps between them, which was not going to hold water very well. To combat leakage, a wood lining was attached to the walls. In most cases this didn’t work that well, and starting in 1891, many of the locks had the wood replaced with concrete.
Due to excessive vegetation growing in Lock 60, it is hard to see what the walls are made of now—appears to still be the uncut stones. The vegetation has been there for quite a while, and since the lock is in a remote area, nearly seven miles from the closest parking lot, it is doubtful any National Park Service Rangers are going to travel to clear it out.
Vegetation growing in Lock 60 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Exposed uncut stones at the downstream end of Lock 60 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Another feature of Lock 60 that is not seen on many locks along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is the sluice. All locks had them, but today many have been filled in with dirt or are covered in vegetation and hard to spot. A sluice is a ditch that runs parallel to the lock. When the upstream gates are closed, the sluice allows water to flow around the lock instead of backing up into a pool of excess water that could spill over the banks of the canal or put additional pressure on the lock gates. The water empties back into the canal just past the downstream gate. The idea is similar to that of a spillway on a dam. (In the photo below, the walls of the sluice are made of the same uncut stones as the lock.)
Remains of the Lock 60 sluice on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
When traveling upstream towards Lock 61, a defunct Western Maryland Railroad bridge crosses over the canal and the Potomac River. The towpath runs underneath the bridge.
Defunct Western Maryland Railroad bridge crosses the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Mile 151.2
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath runs next to the trestles of a defunct Western Maryland Railroad bridge at Mile 151.2
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Last updated on June 25, 2026
