Lock and Lockhouse 16 at Mile 13.7 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath

Lock and Lockhouse 16 are located at Mile 13.7 on the C&O Canal towpath. They cannot be accessed by vehicle, so reaching them requires hiking or biking .7 mile (one way) downstream from the closest parking area, the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center. See the Locks and Lockhouses web page for an interactive location map.

Lock 16 is part of six locks (Locks 15-20) that lift the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal 50 feet in elevation so the Great Falls can be bypassed by the boats. All six locks are within .8 mile of each other.

Upstream gate of Lock 16 at Mile 13.7 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath

Along with the lock itself stands Lockhouse 16. 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 16 is not open to the public, nor can you reach it from the towpath because it is on the other side of the canal and there is no bridge over the canal at Lock 16. If you want a closer look, you must walk a tenth of a mile upstream to the Great Falls Stop Gate, a structure that looks like a covered bridge. There is an actual bridge at the stop gate that crosses over the canal to Berma Road, a hiking trail that leads downstream to the Old Angler’s Inn parking lot. The trail passes right by the lockhouse.

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