C&O Canal Lock 3

Lock 3 of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is marked by a series of heavy stone walls that still hold their original gates. These four locks, numbered one through four, sit in such quick succession that they resemble a staircase built for canal boats moving between the Potomac River and the higher ground of the city. During a restoration between two thousand sixteen and two thousand nineteen, crews fully disassembled the structure to replace its decaying wood foundation with reinforced concrete, then rebuilt the walls using the original stones.