The Lehigh Township Rails to Trails recently improved an area along the Lehigh Canal Towpath.

Lehigh Township Rails to Trails, in partnership with the Walnutport Canal Association and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, has spent the past year improving the area known as Shecklers Lock 25. Lock 25 is located in Lehigh Township, 1.3 miles below Lock 23, and is owned by the borough of Walnutport.

"With the support of the Walnutport Canal Association and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Organization, LTRT has been clearing brush, planting perennials, designing signs and preparing an area for picnic tables near the Lock," Dean Hower, the trail tender leader and vice president of the LTRT, said. "We spent two thousand dollars to create a new picnic area, a park bench, landscaping and signage with information about Lock 25.

"Members from the LTRT raised $600 by holding fundraisers," LTRT President Nancy Thatcher said. "The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage, DNL piggy backed a grant in the amount of $1,400 to revamp the picnic area."

Lock 25 of the Lehigh Navigation System was one of 49 locks that provided safe passage for coal-laden canal boats on their 46-mile route from Mauch Chunk, present-day Jim Thorpe, to Easton. From the time the canal opened in 1829, the site bustled with activity as the lock tender and his family lived beside and operated Lock 25, tended the garden and interacted with canal families and their boats. Due to increased competition from railroads and continuous damage from flooding, the Lehigh Canal was abandoned in 1942 and sites like this were allowed to return to nature.

Like many other locks along the canal, Lock 25 currently is in unstable condition due to the deterioration of the supporting timber beams, vegetation flowing between the stone walls and the inward pressure of surrounding soil.

During the Lehigh Canal's operation, lock tenders and their families lived at each of the canal locks. When the bellowing from a conch shell alerted them of an approaching boat, they hurried to operate the gates and wickets of the lock to allow the boat to move up or down between sections of the canal.

The canal operated from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, so the lock tender rarely strayed far from home. The family members cared for mules boarded at their barn, raised pigs and geese, tended a garden, salted meats and canned vegetable for storage in the cold cellar. They even swam in the canal, although they sometimes came out covered with black coal dirt.

Charles Sheckler was the last lock tender to live at Lock 25. He was born in the township and operated the lock until the canal ceased operations in 1942. Some of the Sheckler family continued to live in the house until the flood of 1955.

Through the work of organizations such as the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor's Trail Tender, Lehigh Township Rails to Trail and the Walnutport Canal Association, these nationally significant historic resources are being preserved and shared with future generations.

The remains of the lock tender's house can still be seen. The property also included a small pond and a barn that housed teams of mules used to pull canal boats. The foundation of the mule barn can be seen encompassing the picnic area.

"Future improvements include adding bird houses to the picnic area and tree identification signs," David Altrichter said, treasure of the LTRT.