LOGAN, Ohio — Appalachia Ohio Alliance has partnered with the Canal Society of Ohio to preserve old Hocking Canal Lock No. 8 and a section of the canal in Fairfield County.
The canal society donated funds to help purchase the canal structure while the alliance utilized Clean Ohio grant funds to purchase the canal property.
Owners Ronnie and Rita Williams worked with the Appalachia Ohio Alliance for several years to help preserve this piece of local heritage, saving it from demolition and sale of the sandstone blocks. Neighbors John and Erin Ramsey also donated a small piece of adjacent property that helped facilitate the acquisition.
Lock No. 8 is located in Horns Mill, just north of Sugar Grove. Abandoned when the canal was shut down in the 1890s, coordinators say the lock is in excellent condition with only a few missing stones.
The alliance seeks to protect remnant canal features and to establish a continuous corridor along the old Hocking Canal route, part of the group’s Hocking Canal Heritage Trail Initiative.
Theh alliance has already protected over three miles of the canal right-of-way in Hocking and Fairfield counties.
