Great Falls After the Boats Stop: What's Open, What's Being Repaired and Where to Warm Up This Winter

In 1831, a room on the second floor of the Crommelin House cost 25 cents. The third floor was called the honeymoon suite. It cost 50 cents, and a couple had to show a marriage certificate to get it. The building began as a lockhouse. W.W. Fenlon, the lockkeeper at Locks 19 and 20, asked to turn it into a three-story inn for canal boaters, and the Canal Company said yes. Today we know it as Great Falls Tavern. The National Park Service has owned it since 1938, and it is now in line for its own repair work.

That fits the season. The canal boats have stopped for the year, and the park is busy with maintenance. Some of it is the yearly winter routine, some of it is cleanup from a storm seven years ago, and some of it is the start of restoring the Tavern.

The Tavern's first restoration phase now has a dollar figure

This summer, the C&O Canal Trust announced that it would work with Preservation Maryland and the National Park Service on the long-term preservation and rehabilitation of the Tavern. It also announced a major fundraising campaign to pay for the work. The Trust says the first phase builds on more than 50 years of work by the Friends of the Historic Great Falls Tavern, along with gifts from individual donors.

The campaign launched on September 19 at Park After Dark, the Trust's yearly fundraiser held beside the canal. The Tavern was that evening's Spotlight Fund. According to the Trust's Park After Dark page, the event raised nearly $250,000 in total. The Trust says it will put $150,000 toward the first phase of the Great Falls Tavern Initiative to begin restoring the building. Next year's Park After Dark is set for September 18, 2027.

In the meantime, the Tavern is open as usual. Visitors can walk through the first floor, where exhibits tell the story of the canal and the boats that once moved goods through its locks.

A 2019 storm is still being repaired at the front gate

The Tavern isn't the only thing under repair. A flash flood on July 8, 2019, eroded the embankments along the Great Falls Entrance Road, the stretch of MacArthur Boulevard that leads to the fee booth. That erosion threatens to undermine the road. The same storm damaged the timber retaining wall around the Swains Lock parking area.

The NPS project page lists the work:

• Repairing eroded embankments and rebuilding the road shoulders
• Building walls of dry-laid stone, which NPS calls "rockery," to armor the slopes
• Installing a new drainage pipe and stabilizing stream beds
• Removing the timber wall at Swains Lock and replacing it with an embankment of fill and seeded topsoil

The work started in phases in 2025 and continues through 2026, depending on weather. It is paid for through the Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads program. This project fixes the ground under the road. NPS says the bumpy pavement on top is a separate, larger project that is still being designed.

What this means for your visit:

1. The entrance road is open, but one lane may close at times during construction. Follow the flaggers, and expect a short wait on the way in or out.
2. The Swains Lock lot at mile 16.7 has been closed since October 13. NPS scheduled that work to last several weeks. The Hiker-Biker Campground there stays open.
3. The Canal Quarters at Lockhouse 21 stays accessible throughout the construction.
4. The nearest towpath parking is Great Falls at mile 14.3 downstream or Pennyfield Lock at mile 19.6 upstream. DC Water is repairing a sewer line near Lock 22, so drivers on Pennyfield Lock Road may hit delays.

Carderock, the next access point downstream, has its own work underway. Since July 27, the Carderock Tunnel has been down to one lane, with traffic taking turns. Parking Lot 1 has fewer spaces because the contractor is staging equipment there. The restrooms are closed for emergency repairs, and portable toilets are available instead.

NPS says more than 1 million people visit Great Falls, Maryland, every year, and these access routes serve some of the park's busiest areas. It makes sense to do this kind of work after the busy season ends.

Draining the canal is winter maintenance too

Each fall the park drains the sections of canal that hold water, which NPS calls "de-watering." Freezing water can damage the old stone masonry, so emptying the canal protects it. The C&O Canal Company did the same thing when the canal was still in business. Water usually comes back in early spring.

Draining happens in stages. At the park's October 14 update, the stretch around the Tavern, from Lock 17 through Lock 21, still held water, and so did Widewater. The sections between Locks 21 and 23 were already dry.

Water fountains change with the season as well. Around mid-November, the park turns off the faucets at its camping areas so the pipes don't freeze and burst. Water in visitor centers and park buildings comes from the local utility and stays on, so the Great Falls Tavern restrooms remain a reliable place to refill a bottle.

The Tavern's week gets shorter on December 1

As of the park's November 3 update, the Tavern Visitor Center, parking lot, restrooms, Great Falls Overlook, Olmsted Island Boardwalk, Gold Mine Loop and River Trail were all open. So were Sections A, B and C of the Billy Goat Trail. The visitor center's schedule changes when the calendar turns.

The towpath itself is open every day of the year, from sunrise to sunset.

The rest of the C&O Canal park is free, but the Great Falls Tavern area charges an entrance fee. NPS currently lists $20 per private vehicle, $15 per motorcycle, and $10 per person age 16 or older arriving on foot or by bike. Children under 16 don't need their own pass. The booth takes cards only, no cash. A $35 annual pass covers this park, and every Great Falls entrance pass is also good at Great Falls Park on the Virginia side of the river.

Section A of the Billy Goat Trail is the part most likely to close in winter. NPS usually closes it when the river gauge at Little Falls reaches 5 feet and reopens it when the gauge drops to 4.8 feet. It sometimes closes at lower levels. The Tavern's number for trail status is 301-739-4200, during business hours.

Warming up on MacArthur Boulevard and in Potomac Village

The closest warm meal is a short drive down MacArthur Boulevard. Old Angler's Inn at 10801 MacArthur Boulevard has the same Monday and Tuesday closures as the Tavern does in November. From December on, the two schedules split. Wednesday becomes a day when the inn serves lunch and dinner from noon but the Tavern stays closed. The inn says the Reges family has run it for nearly 70 years, guided by a simple rule: "take care of the place, take care of the food, and most importantly, take care of the people."

Up Falls Road in Potomac Village, these places keep hours that suit a morning walk or a late afternoon:

• Bagels 'n Grinds, 9812 Falls Road, open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The MoCo Show reported it opened in April 2025 as a New York-style bagel shop in the former Potomac Village Deli space.
• Tally Ho Restaurant, 9923 Falls Road, opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday, and stays open until 9 p.m. every day. Manager Andreas Vellios told Bethesda Magazine, "It's all homemade here, using family recipes."
• Duke's Grocery, 10128 River Road, opened in April 2025 as its first location outside the District. In August 2026, The MoCo Show reported that it won Washington City Paper's Best Burger category again.
• The Market at River Falls, 10124 River Road, sells prepared foods and has a poke bar. It's open until 7 p.m. every day, opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
• Potomac Pizza at Potomac Promenade, 9812 Falls Road, opens at 11 a.m. most days and at noon on Sunday.

Also on River Road, CAVA's founders chose 10120 River Road, the former Renato's space, for Maurizio's. In May 2026, Bethesda Magazine quoted co-founder Ted Xenohristos: "Opening our next restaurant in the Village is incredibly meaningful to us." In July, Store Reporter described the concept as coastal Italian with a dedicated Negroni menu.

If you want to talk through Potomac, from the quiet stretches along the canal to the newest corners of the Village, Katie Bocock and our team are always happy to compare notes on the places we love around here. Contact Us any time, whether it's about a house or just your favorite winter walk to the falls.