If you have been following my blog for a while then I am sure you are starting to notice a theme. I absolutely love exploring new places, especially abandoned buildings and waterfalls. Recently I have been spending most of my weekends grabbing a friend or friends and finding another new adventure. This particular weekend, we bit off way more than we could chew, but we saw some really cool stuff.
We spent most of our day at Abandoned Locke #19, and it was so worth it. We got up bright and early, and packed some drinks. Since it is winter time we made sure to dress super warm. And then we headed on our way. Along the way we made a pit stop at Cabela’s to gather some gloves since none of us had any and then back in the car for the 1.5 hour ride to Little Hocking, which is right past Parkersburg.
The Address: 588 Northwest Dr. Washington, WV 26181
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The Coordinates: Latitude 39.256207, Longitude -81.691448
Abandoned Lock #19 is one of the last remaining examples of the original lock and dam system on the Ohio River. The main building was built in 1916 and has since withstood many floods. The building itself is completely open, with no fences and no doors. The access road is used for a public boat ramp, and it seems as though many people visit. I think it is safe to say that you won’t get in trouble for exploring the building.
The inside.
Inside the building is completely open. The inside is covered in graffiti. Some of the graffiti actually looks kinda cool, but the rest kinda makes me a little sad. So much trash ruining the beautiful building. Basically if your a good artist, then I don’t mind it, but if you suck then take your spray paint and go home. No one wants to see your crappy doodles haha, kidding. Kinda. It looks like the one room on the main floor was some type of living area. Complete with fireplace and all.
Old structures like this one always intrigue me, they are so stunning. Thus the love for abondoned buildings. But, the fact that they were built so strong and sturdy is so impressive. We were able to get through just about the entire building. The stairs to the second floor were very well intact which was really cool to be able to explore the entire building.
Outside of the abandoned lock, two more abandoned buildings.
The property also had two houses on it, a cemetery, and a giant bamboo garden. From what I read, one house was for the lockmaster and their family and the other was for the rest of the workers. The cemetery is small but super creepy. We did all kinds of research on why there was a small wooded bamboo garden on the property but did not come up with much.
The inside of the buildings looks pretty run down. Everything that I have read so far says that the homes are privately owned, which we didn’t know when we visited the area. I wouldn’t recommend getting too close to the homes if you don’t want to get into trouble. They really are beautiful buildings though.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed my photo tour of one of my newfound favorite abandoned buildings. If you’re interested in checking out my absolute favorite abandoned place so far then check out the abandoned distillery we explored here.