Rock Creek Park in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Herring Highway
Rock Creek Park
| | National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior | |
This may look like a natural arrangement of rocks but it is really a feat of engineering. Rocks are precisely placed to build a series of boulder step pools that raise the water level making it possible for fish to swim over an active sewer line. Migrating Blueback herring, Alewife and other fish can once again swim upstream to spawn as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. These pools are part of a larger project that restores the "Herring Highway".
Please leave the rocks where they are. Future herring populations depend on these pools and channels for migration upstream.
Built in 1906, Boulder Bridge to your left crosses the creek 5 miles upstream from the Potomac River.
Rock Creek meanders 33 miles from its source in Montgomery County, Maryland through suburban and densely populated areas until it reaches the Potomac River. From there the water continues to flow southeast 112 miles to the Chesapeake Bay and another 80 miles to the Atlantic Ocean.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Animals •
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Location. 38° 56.923′ N, 77° 2.798′ W. Marker is in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in Rock Creek Park. It is on Beach Drive Northwest 1.1 miles south of Joyce Road Northwest, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Washington DC 20011, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American Northeast, in the Upper South, in the Mid-Atlantic, in the Tidewater, and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Blagden Mill (approx. 0.2 miles away); Dina Merrill Pavilion (approx. 0.4 miles away); Cafι, C.W. Post Center, and Administration (approx. 0.4 miles away); Greenhouse (approx. 0.4 miles away); Butler's House (approx. 0.4 miles away); Visitor Center
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 30, 2020, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 241 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 30, 2020, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
