Overview
The Channahon Access became a state park in 1932, known as the Channahon State Parkway. The I & M Canal officially closed in 1933 with the opening of the Illinois Waterway. The canal and its environs were in desperate need of cleanup and repairs. The Civilian Conservation Corps employed by the U.S. Department of the Interior were assigned clean-up and repair duty along the canal. The C.C.C. restored Locks 6 & 7 in Channahon, along with the locktender’s house at Lock 6. In the park, they built a large shelter of hand-hewn beams and flagstone flooring that stands today as a testimony to the young men who constructed it.
Channahon State Park is a great starting point for a day bicycling or hiking on the I & M Canal Trail. Sixty-one miles of trail along the old canal towpath gives access to unparalleled scenic and historic sights. In the spring, wildlife and wildflowers are abundant along the trail. Great blue herons and waterfowl can be observed feeding or nesting near the park and along the canal banks. Locks 6 & 7 and the original locktenders house at Lock 6 located at the Channahon State Park enable visitors to daydream of a time when one of the loudest noises heard came from a blacksmith pounding out a new set of horse shoes.