ayLoLM

II

rIJAMES RADAJR.(,i orrupondott.,tLLqau,\1 ngttTh e

'I#hea the brass horlr w'ould soundat a-11 hours, day aad aight, thelockkeepers of the ChesaPeake

and Ohio Canal would leave whatthey were doing and head for

their lock.

Ntr mitter the rveather outside,

their job was to set thc lock for the

approaching canal boats. Each lock

lt,oulcl lift or lorver a canai boat aror-rnd

10 {bet as the canallers hauled coal and

other cargo do',vn the Appalac}rian

\Iountains from Cumberland to

Gcorgetorr'n and back.

\or, adar s. t-nost of the canal is

-;ii.t ail enlptv ditch. but manY of the

,-:lral l:rr.r.es i'emaitl. C.aro1 Patch o1'

-\l,lgtort. \-a,. frosts atr er etling dinner

parn at iockhon.e I[) once a rear Ibr

her lriends. It is one of sir lockhouses

availablc for rent along the C&O

Canal. Lockhouse 10 is decorated as

it lvould have been in the 1930s so it

IE K

has electricity and indoor plumbing.

However, the kitchen equiPment

certainlv doc:n't include a micrortavr

and dishrvasher.

"It reminds us olhorv hard our

mothers had it," Carol said.

A lockkeeper's lifeA C&O Canal lockkeePer had to be ot

the job w-henever the canal was open'

an average of 10 months a Year. For

this they r'vcre paid a small sa1ary base'-

on the number ollocks the.v tended.

given a plot of ground on r'r'hich ther

could plant a garden, and a }ockhou"

in r,vhich to live.

The C&O Canal has 74 locks th:'

ALONG TI.{E

C&O CANAL

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ilTE! (5{f

rll

w

an idea of rvhat lile r,r,as like fbr a

lockkeepcr and his famil,v durine the

particular time period to which that

lockhouse has been restored."I kind o1-likcd r,rashing using

a pitcher and basin," said Elaine

Stonebraker. She has stayed in five ofthe six lockhouses that are available to

rent, including staying in her favorite

one three times. She lir.es in Southern

N{aryland and has to drive two hours to

reach the canal.

Visitors can also find interpretive

information, such as panels and

scrapbooks, in the lockhouse that

explain what was happening on the

canal during the particular time to

which the house has been restored.

The first lockhouse that Elaine

Stonebraker stayed in was Lockhouse 6

because it r,rras the closest one to r,rrhere

she lived. She loved her night there

so much that she started looking for

chances to stay in other lockhouses.

"They're ereat," she said. "You are

actually experiencing history. You are

staying where someone lived, where

children were brought up. You can

imagine working the ]ock."

Carol Patch, on the other hand,

lives near the canal and found that

it's a convenient place for her to hold

dinner parties. She discovered that she

could rent Lockhouse 10 r,r,hen she was

walking along the tonpath one time.

When she learned that a lriend of hers

\,\ras on a Sierra Club hike and would

be passing along on the tor,r,path early

in the morning, she decided to rent

tl-ie 1ock1-rouse . That rrar'. she cor-rld

:r,:,lC htl diriirel Dain-. sr:l\ the niglrt in

\\hat the furure holdsI rr' ( .,:.' l. .. : ..,... .. : .

se\-enth lockholr:c 1ol ovelnigl-rt ri-.its

bv the end of this this r-car. 'fhis rrillbc Lockhouse No. 21 at Srvain's Lock.

The lockhouse gcts its name lrom thc

Sr,r,ain family that occupied the hou.t

for senerations, first as lockkeepers

and then as a NPS concessionaire. The

stone iockhouse is 32 feet by 18 feet

and will have amenities.

One olthe lockkeepers r.vho used

to live there \ rasJesse Sr,vain. Someone

once save Swain a tr,r,o-day-old gosling.

Snain named itJimm,v and he raised

it as a pet. It lived to be 27 years old.

Jesse andJimmy were fixtures on the

canal for vears.

"\tly lather lvould get in the buggy

to go to the Potomac store, andJimmv

would p;ct right up beside him and

ride out there and back," Otho Swain

said in an oral history in Home on the

Canal. "If my father would go fishing in

the boat,Jimmy r,vould get in the water

and srvim rieht out to him and sta.v out

there as long as he stayed. An,vbody'd

go around m,v father,Jimmy lvould bite

the devil out of him."

The Canal Trust also wants to

restore other houses on the canal.

"The plan going for-w,ard is to

eventually have enough canal houses

that a visitor can have a hut-to-hut

experience traveling along the entire

canal," Heidi Schlag said.

The restored lockhousesLockhouse 6 is at mile markcr 5.4

near Brookmont, Md., and has full

amenities. This lockhouse is furnished

to appear as a lockhousc in the 1950s

r'vou1d have appeared. Lockhouse

10 is at mile markcr B.B near Cabin

John. r\1d.. and has tull iimcrritie:.

This lockhouse is furnishecl to appear

as a lockhouse in the 1930s n'ould

"t l r, -:. 1. .kh, ,u.,-ll i. -r,

: :'.' :-r.,1 P' ,1,-.,.,. \I:,.

_-- - -1 .1

l,,L:..-.nrnlker 3t t.tr tr."t Pr,,,-,lt.r'rllt. \Ic1..

and is a nrstic house. This lockhonsc

is furnished to appear as a lockhouse

lr,ould have appearccl during thc Civil

\\rar. Lockhouse 28 is at mile markcr

48.9 near Point olRocks, N'[d., and is a

rustic house. This lockhouse is furnished

to appear as a lockhouse in thc 1830s

lould har-c appeared. Lockhouse 49

is at mile marker 108.7 near Clear

Splin-q. \Id.. and has elcctriciq* only.

This lockhousc is furnished to appear

as a lockhor-rse in the i920s nould have1 atl

.lpl)eartcL. Hlll

Visit the c&O Canal Trust fot morc infotmation on theit Canal

Quaft* ptoEtam or to book a night, The C&O Canal Ttust

web site is M,canalttust,otEyptoErams/canalauafte6. You

@n view picturs of the lockhores and check on availability.

PhotN @urfsyC& O Canal yisito6 Center, Cumbeiland, Maryland.

Fot more infotmation, Yisit

M. n p s,gov/ c h oh/ p I a nyo u ruisit / c u m beil a n dvlsitorcente L

1.'*.1 1 : t.ttr+';i-u

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