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Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center
The Great Falls of the Potomac have drawn people to the river's shore for centuries. To Native Americans it was a gathering place, to George Washington it was an impediment to navigation, to thousands of visitors every year it is an awe-inspiring site. Tourists have hiked out to the Great Falls of the Potomac long before there was a canal. The Great Falls Tavern carries on a long tradition of hospitality for visitors to the C&O Canal. Soon after the canal’s ground breaking in 1828 construction began on the original lockhouse. In response to travelers’ requests for shelter and a meal, the locktender at Great Falls, W.W. Fenlon, asked the Canal Company to build the three-story north wing for a hotel. Proposing himself as innkeeper but adding, "Mrs. Felon is better calculated for Land Ladie," he wrote.
http://communities.msn.com/SilverSpringHistoricalSociety http://www.homestead.com/silverspringhistory http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us http://www.montgomeryhistory.org | History | Towpath Towns | Brunswick | Cumberland | Ferry Hill | Great Falls Tavern | Georgetown | Hancock | Williamsport | The Canal Arrives at Cumberland | |
Located
at 11710 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac, MD 20854 (301-767-3714)
the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center is open year round, seven
days per week from 9 AM to 4:45 PM. Call ahead to confirm hours
of operation. 
The
hotel opened for business in 1831. The entrance door invited guests
into a large, windowed room with fireplaces and a bar. As the inn’s
first proprietor Mr. Fenlon presided over lively entertainment like
fishing parties, dances and social events in the "ballroom,"
in addition to good dinners and a place to sleep. A community of
over 100 people grew nearby with shops and a post office.