Lock 16 Visitor Center

I love this place! They have great food and a lovely gift shop with all sorts of unique items. I have eaten here for lunch many times and the food has always been great. I have also attended bridal and baby showers here and it is a great location to have such a gathering.

Fun place for a lunch or snack and beverage stop. Free WiFi and cute gift shop to browse through.

I like this place. This is a café and gift shop run by a non profit board of directors for no other reason than they love the history and lore of the canal. Before automation, goods were shipped across Illinois by floating them on a barge and mules pulling the barge. The place looks perfect. They just hired some new staff and are eager to get in the groove for a busy spring. They certainly have the potential to be a creative, cutting edge little bistro. I would suggest a greater emphasis on the soup and sandwich style of the place as this seems to be the natural talent of the chef.

Wonderful place!!! Super friendly, cute & yummy place. The staff are very helpful and pleasant. Lots of cute things for sale (gift items, home décor, gifts, snacks, etc.). The décor/​atmosphere is very nice. I had one soup of the day and it was very tasty & I like loved my caramel macchiato. I highly recommend this café for coffee, lunch and/​or shopping!

We just came off of a wonderful weekend celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the I&M Canal Heritage Corridor. This building contains the office for the organization as well as a delightful restaurant, gift shop, and place to purchase tickets for the canal boat ride. Everyone here is so pleasant and helpful as well as knowledgeable about the history of the area and the Illinois & Michigan Canal. If you are in the area you must make a stop here. An underrated Illinois gem!

Small place with small menu, but the food was very good! Lots of fun stuff to look at while you wait. Very historic building; they’ve done a great job of preserving the charm. They also have fun desserts– I had a great brownie ala mode.

Came here for the first time last week. We heard a lecture on the importance of Mark Twain which was really good. The gentleman who gave the lecture was quite passionate about his topic and interesting to hear. He is willing to give lectures to interested groups so keep that in mind if you are in charge of programs for a local organization.
We also had dinner before the lecture. The dinner was more of a 4 — apple stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetables. But the main event was the facility itself and the lecture.
I would go back.

History + good food + fun people = An amazing good time
Last night we experienced something completely different and were charmed by this small town in the process. We attended the first in a lecture/​dinner series at a terrific building. This night we heard Ellie Carlson speak about Cooking 100 Years Ago while she demonstrated cooking techniques which we eventually sampled. The woman made whipping cream with a FORK and had us all help to churn butter. It was so unique and charming that I was just smiling like a big goof the whole time.
During the lecture we were served a wonderful meal — I chose a bacon wrapped pork medallion with a chocolate wine sauce. Bacon, chocolate and wine in one dish? I’m in! And it was delicious. For dessert we had homemade apple pie with cinnamon ice cream — the only problem with the dessert was that seconds were not available. The service was impeccable — the women from the Visitor Center replaced silverware with each course, many restaurants won’t do that.
We were seated with 5 other random strangers and we all got to know each other and have requested that we be table-​mates for the remaining lectures. I have been seated at tables while attending the weddings of people I love and not enjoyed the company nearly as much.
Whether you come to learn while you dine or want to tour the canals on a boat, I recommend you make the drive for a really enjoyable not your everyday experience. It’s worth the drive!