Potomac — Travelrags

BBC TravelSep 20, 2026

What it's like to sleep along Maryland's 200-year-old canal, one lock-keeper house at a time

The C&O Canal was a thriving 19th-Century waterway, and a strategic asset during the Civil War. Today, its historic lockhouses offer overnight guests a unique way to relive US history.

10 things in this story

Old Angler's InnRestaurantOffers burgers and jugs of water for towpath users.
Great Falls Tavern Visitor CenterMuseumA former lockhouse turned visitor center.
Elsewhere
C&O Canal TowpathTrailWashington DC, United StatesRecreational trail running beside the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.
GeorgetownNeighborhoodWashington DC, United StatesWashington DC's cobblestoned 18th-Century neighborhood.
Canal Quarters lockhousesHotelMaryland, United StatesEight lockhouses available for overnight stays.
Lockhouse 10HotelMaryland, United StatesFurnished to evoke the late 1930s.
Mather GorgeSightMaryland, United StatesA steep, razor-narrow chasm on the Potomac River.
Lockhouse 21HotelMaryland, United StatesOutfitted to recall 1916, the canal's twilight era.
Lockhouse 22HotelMaryland, United StatesClosest to living like 19th-century lock-keepers; no electricity.
Seneca AqueductSightMaryland, United StatesWater-filled bridge carrying canal over Seneca Creek.

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