The Potomac Watershed

The Potomac Watershed. . The Potomac River meanders over 383 miles from Fairfax Stone, West Virginia, to Point Lookout, Maryland, where it flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The watershed of the Potomac River stretches across: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia, and covers 14,670 square miles. At Mount Vernon the width of the river spans approximately one mile (5,280 feet)., For thousands of years, the river served as an important source of food and a means of transportation for Native American communities in the region., Captain John Smith, the first known European to encounter the Potomac watershed, arrived in 1608 and found an area inhabited by three Indian tribes, Pamunkey, Powhatan, and Nanticoke. The abundance of wildlife, fertile soil, and navigable water contributed to the area's colonization by European settlers. We know from early 17th-century documentation that the Potomac River and its tributaries were sources for incredible stocks of seafood. Colonists described schools of fish so dense that a boat could not move through them; 14-inch oysters were also common., (left sidebar) , The name "Potomac" is a European spelling of an Algonquian name which supposedly means "river of swans." Other accounts say the name means "place where people trade" or "the place to which tribute is brought." The Potomac's common spelling through the 18th century was "Patowmack," simplified from the earlier "Patawomeke.", (right sidebar) , George Washington wasn't the only Mount Vernon resident interested in catching fish. Ospreys and bald eagles soar over the shoreline, occasionally diving into the water to seize a fish with their talons., Ospreys have narrow wings and long legs. They fly with a marked kink in their wings, making an M-shape when seen from below. The tall sycamore tree on the shoreline, adjacent to the wharf, is home to a large osprey nest., Bald eagles, unique to North America, are not actually bald. The feathers on their heads and tails turn white when they reach maturity. When flying, the bald eagle very rarely flaps its wings but glides instead, holding its wings almost completely flat. , How far can an eagle see?, An eagle's eye is almost as large as that of a human, but an eagle can see a rabbit from one mile away., At Great Falls, the Potomac becomes an estuary, a partly enclosed coastal body of water with a connection to the open sea that contains a mixture of fresh and salt water. Estuaries provide excellent habitats and breeding grounds for a wide variety of wildlife., In 1793, George Washington wrote that the water off Mount Vernon's shore was "well supplied with various kinds of Fish at all Seasons of the year, and in the Spring with the greatest profusion of Shad, Herring, Bass, Carp, Perch, Sturgeon and ca." Today, hundreds of species of fish live in the Potomac River. Some are native, others have been introduced to the area at various times.