Potomac River
The Potomac River's waters have served as a natural resource and transportation route for more than ten thousand years. The Potomac flows from Fairfax Stone in West Virginia, snakes between the mountains and through the valleys of Appalachia and thence a total run of three hundred and eighty miles to the Chesapeake Bay near Point Lookout, Maryland. Many consider the Potomac one of the "one of the most beautiful and bountiful rivers on the East Coast". [1] The Potomac drains a watershed of fourteen thousand six hundred seventy square miles of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. Several famous and major rivers make-up this watershed. In Maryland, these tributaries include the Monocacy, Savage, and St. Mary's Rivers. In Virgina, the both forks of the Shenandoah River and the Occoquan River feed into the Potomac River system. In West Virginia, the South Branch and Cacapon Rivers flow into the Potomac, while in Pennsylvania the Conococheague and Antietam Creeks flow into the river. In Washington D.C., the Anacostia River empties into the Potomac.
The Potomac River has nurtured trade, cultures, migration, and living resources for more than 10,000 years. Captain John Smith visited the Potomac in 1608. He found fish "lying so thicke with their heads above water, (that) for want of nets, we attempted to catch them with a frying pan." The earliest Tidewater settlers in Maryland and Virginia existed primarily on huge supplies of Potomac crabs, oysters, and fish. The estuary was the lifeblood of many Native American and colonial cultures, and the Potomac was the major route for trade and commerce. Today, the Potomac watershed is home to more than 5 million people, and continues to support commercial fisheries and a variety of fish and wildlife in its estuary. The history of the Potomac River is linked to the historical events and growth that has taken place in its basin.