Lock 31 at Mile 58 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath

Lock and Lockhouse 31 are located near Harpers Ferry at Mile 58 on the C&O Canal towpath. There is a parking area nearby at the end of Keep Tryst Road. See the Locks and Lockhouses web page for an interactive location map.

From the Harpers Ferry Railroad Tunnel just downstream of Lock 32—about two miles upstream from Lock 31—the Appalachian Trail and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath merge. It is at Lock 31 that the AT diverges from the towpath by making a U-turn and paralleling Keep Tryst Road, which dead ends near the lock at a small roadside parking area. To visit the lock and lockhouse, cross the railroad tracks and you’ll see both structures on your left.

Lock 31 is completely filled in with vegetation, so it is of no great interest. However, the lockhouse is pretty neat. A lockhouse is the residence of the man who is hired to operate the lock. In addition to a yearly salary, he and his family—almost all lockkeepers were family men—lived in the company provided lockhouse and had use of an acre of land for farming. Those who tended multiple locks got extra money per lock, up to two. The locks had to be very close together for the C&O Canal Company to assign multiple locks to one person.

Operating the lock was a year-round, 24-hour-a-day job. When a canal boat approached, the captain would blow a whistle to notify the lockkeeper. If it were nighttime, somebody had to wake up and go to work. Of course that’s the benefit of being a family man—your kids had to get up for the late night and early morning arrivals!

Lockhouse 31 is not open to the public. Its red-painted brick is unusual, for nearly all of the lockhouses on the canal are painted white.