Photo courtesy of Roy Sewall.

Lockhouses involved in the canal quarters program are furnished with antique and reproduction furniture to aid visitors in learning about 19th and 2oth century life along the canal.

The Canal Quarters Interpretive Program invites visitors to learn more about life on the C&O Canal by staying in a historic lockhouse for a day and night. Interpretive media, household tools, and furnishings reminiscent of different periods of the canal’s history convey the living conditions of a lock keeper’s family as it may have been during the 1830s, at the time of the Civil War, the turn of the twentieth century, or the 1950s. To fully experience life at that time period, visitors have the opportunity to spend the night in a C&O Canal Lockhouse.

The Canal Quarters Interpretive Program is a cooperative effort between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and the C&O Canal Trust, a not-for-profit friends group. Three lockhouses, Lockhouse 6 near Washington DC, Lockhouse 22 known as Pennyfield Lock, and Lockhouse 49 in Four Locks near Clear Spring, Maryland, are now open. Two other lockhouses are being rehabilitated for this program and will be available in the near future.

Click here for more information.

Canal Quartermasters are needed to help with this program. Click the following link to learn about our canal quartermasters.