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Adapted from Potomac River, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for audio. This HearLore entry is also licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

— Ch. 1 · From Highlands To Bay —

Potomac River.

~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
The Potomac River begins its journey at the Fairfax Stone, located where Grant, Tucker, and Preston counties meet in West Virginia. This single point marks the source of the North Branch, which flows 105 miles to Jennings Randolph Lake before joining the South Branch near Green Spring. The South Branch starts further south near Hightown in Highland County, Virginia, winding through Blue Grass Valley Road and past Jack Mountain. These two streams merge east of Green Spring in Hampshire County to form the main river. From that confluence, the water travels 400 miles southeast to Point Lookout, Maryland, emptying into Chesapeake Bay. Along this path, the river crosses five distinct geological provinces: the Appalachian Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Blue Ridge, Piedmont Plateau, and Atlantic coastal plain. At Little Falls, the river drops from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain, creating a fall line where tides begin to influence the flow. Salinity increases downstream as the estuary widens to 11 statute miles between Point Lookout and Smith Point, Virginia.

Native Voices And Names

Before European contact, the region surrounding the river was governed by the Algonquian Piscataway confederacy and their allies. Local affairs were managed by countless Werowances under a complex political system led by the Tayac. Native Americans used different names for various sections of the waterway. They called the river above Great Falls Cohongarooton, meaning "honking geese." Below the falls, they referred to it as Patawomke, translating to "river of swans." The modern name Potomac derives from a European spelling of Patawomeck, which was the Algonquian name of a village on the southern bank. Captain John Smith explored the river in 1608 and drew maps showing his observations. His work was later compiled into a map published in London in 1612. That map depicted the local tribes' description of the area as Patawomeck. Over time, the spelling shifted through variations like Patomake and Patowmack before the Board on Geographic Names officially settled on Potomac in 1931. The similarity to the Ancient Greek word potamos appears to be purely coincidental.

Smiths Map And Naming

Captain John Smith's 1608 expedition marked the first detailed European exploration of this waterway. He made drawings of his observations which were subsequently compiled into a map and published in London in 1612. This document showed his rendition of the river that local tribes had told him was called the Patawomeck. The spelling evolved over centuries from Patawomeck to Patomake, then Patowmack, and numerous other forms during the 18th century. In 1931, the Board on Geographic Names officially decided upon the current name Potomac. George Washington spent most of his life within the Potomac basin and was born there. An apocryphal legend claims he threw a silver dollar across the river as a youth, though the first silver dollar was not minted until five years after his death. The First United States Congress passed an act on the 16th of July 1790, stating that the nation's capital would be located on the river. All of Washington, D.C., the nation's capital city, lies within the watershed. The river brings together diverse cultures ranging from coal miners upstream to urban residents in the capital.

War And Boundary Lines

During the American Civil War, the river became the physical boundary between Union forces and Confederate armies. General Robert E. Lee crossed the river twice to invade the North, threatening Washington, D.C. His campaigns climaxed in the battles of Antietam on the 17th of September 1862, and Gettysburg from July 1 to 3, 1863. Confederate General Jubal Early crossed the river again in July 1864 during an attempted raid on the nation's capital. The river divided the Union from the Confederacy while also giving its name to the largest army of the North, the Army of the Potomac. The 1859 siege of Harper's Ferry at the river's confluence with the Shenandoah served as a precursor to numerous epic battles fought in and around the Potomac and its tributaries. Other significant conflicts included the 1861 Battle of Ball's Bluff and the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown. These events transformed the waterway into a strategic military line that defined the geography of the conflict.

Dams And Drinking Water

Washington, D.C. began using the Potomac as its principal source of drinking water when the Washington Aqueduct opened in 1864. An intake was constructed at Great Falls to draw water for the city. An average of approximately 300 million gallons of water is withdrawn daily from the Potomac in the Washington area. This amount provides about 78 percent of the region's total water usage and includes roughly 80 percent of the drinking water consumed by the estimated 6.1 million residents. Damaging floods in 1936 and 1937 led the Army Corps of Engineers to propose reservoir projects. One dam was built at Little Falls just north of Washington, backing its pool up to Great Falls. The much larger Seneca Dam was proposed whose reservoir would extend to Harpers Ferry. Several other dams were planned for the Potomac and its tributaries. The only dam project that actually got built was Jennings Randolph Lake on the North Branch. Detailed studies issued by the Corps in the 1950s met sustained opposition led by U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, resulting in the plans' abandonment. A supplementary water intake for the Washington Aqueduct was built at Little Falls in 1959.

Pollution And Recovery

Beginning in the 19th century, increasing mining and agriculture upstream combined with urban sewage and runoff downstream caused the water quality of the Potomac River to deteriorate. Conditions of severe eutrophication created dense green algal blooms covering the river's surface during the 1960s. President Lyndon Johnson declared the river a national disgrace and set in motion a long-term effort to reduce pollution from sewage. One significant pollution control project involved expanding the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant which serves Washington and several surrounding communities. Enactment of the 1972 Clean Water Act led to construction or expansion of additional sewage treatment plants in the watershed. Controls on phosphorus were implemented in the 1980s through sewage plant upgrades and restrictions on phosphorus in detergents. By the end of the 20th century, massive algal blooms vanished and recreational fishing rebounded. In 2005, two federal agencies identified fish exhibiting intersex characteristics due to endocrine disruption. The Potomac Conservancy issued the river a grade of D-plus on the 13th of November 2007, citing high levels of pollution. Since then, the group has issued a grade of B since 2018 as nutrient runoff reduced and fish populations returned.

Fish And Dolphin Pods

A variety of fish inhabit the Potomac including bass, muskellunge, pike, and walleye. The northern snakehead, an invasive species resembling the native bowfin, was first seen in 2004. Bull sharks can be found there although they are rare. After decades of decline, the river's population of American shad is re-bounding thanks to the ICPRB's successful American Shad Restoration Project begun in 1995. The project stocked the river with more than 22 million shad fry and supervised construction of a fishway around the Little Falls Dam. Several hundred bottle-nosed dolphins live six months of the year from mid-April through mid-October in the Potomac. Unprecedented numbers of Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins have been observed since 2015 perhaps due to warmer temperatures and improving water quality. More than 500 individual members of the species have been identified by Dr. Janet Mann of Georgetown University's Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project. In March 2019, catching near Fletcher's Boat House a Striped Bass estimated to weigh 35 pounds served as further indicator of continuing improvement in the health of the river.

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Common questions

Where does the Potomac River begin and end?

The Potomac River begins at the Fairfax Stone in West Virginia and ends by emptying into Chesapeake Bay at Point Lookout, Maryland. The river flows 400 miles from its source to this mouth.

What is the origin of the name Potomac River?

The modern name Potomac derives from a European spelling of Patawomeck, which was the Algonquian name of a village on the southern bank. The Board on Geographic Names officially settled on the current name Potomac in 1931 after centuries of spelling variations.

How did the Potomac River function during the American Civil War?

During the American Civil War, the Potomac River served as the physical boundary between Union forces and Confederate armies. It also gave its name to the largest army of the North, known as the Army of the Potomac.

When did Washington D.C. start using the Potomac River for drinking water?

Washington, D.C. began using the Potomac River as its principal source of drinking water when the Washington Aqueduct opened in 1864. Approximately 300 million gallons of water are withdrawn daily from the river to serve the region's population.

What happened to the water quality of the Potomac River in the 20th century?

Severe eutrophication created dense green algal blooms covering the river's surface during the 1960s before pollution control efforts improved conditions. By 2018, the Potomac Conservancy issued a grade of B due to reduced nutrient runoff and returning fish populations.

See all questions about Potomac River →

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