The Potomac River Gorge "In more than twenty-five years of field work, I have not seen another site with a comparable diversity of land forms, plants, and natural communities." -Gary Fleming, Ecologist, Virginia DCR Look around you. . . . — — Map (db m4974) HM
Prehistoric people arrived along the shores of the Potomac River some 13,000 years ago. Slowly they transformed from semi-nomadic hunters into farmers and fishermen. Eventually, a group called the Nacotchtanks became the dominant tribe of the . . . — — Map (db m64316) HM
Late afternoon on June 27, 1863, Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart began assembling his cavalry brigades at Dranesville. To avoid the Union Army of the Potomac (90,000-strong) then crossing the Potomac upstream at Edwards Ferry, Stuart ordered . . . — — Map (db m59678) HM
Once the site of a Forestville School, this building has served the citizens of the Great Falls community for a century. Constructed alongside the Georgetown Pike in 1889, the school consisted of one room until 1911 when a second building, the . . . — — Map (db m2181) HM
National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Great Falls Canal and Locks Constructed 1785-1802. Operated until 1821 ——— These works were the major feature of the first river navigation system for trade with the west. This . . . — — Map (db m4975) HM
Just to the southeast were radar and other control equipment that formed a portion of one of three Nike anti-aircraft missile complexes in Fairfax County. The site was operated by the U.S. Army between 1954 and 1962. Established during the Cold War . . . — — Map (db m2091) HM
The year was 1942, and citizens of Great Falls were concerned that bombings, like those of London, might occur in Washington, DC. In a time of great threats, including attacks on major cities, a handful of Great Falls area citizens came together to . . . — — Map (db m60489) HM
Colvin Run Road is a remnant of an 18th-century wagon road from the Shenandoah Valley to Alexandria that probably originated as an Indian path. George Washington passed by here in 1753 and 1754 en route to persuade the French on the Ohio River to . . . — — Map (db m1861) HM
Great Falls Park The Potomac River is the second largest watershed feeding the Chesapeake Bay. Early peoples depended on the river for food and made their homes along its banks. European settlers saw the river as a source for transportation, . . . — — Map (db m4972) HM
Invasion of Washington City
Following the defeat of American militia forces by British regulars at Bladensburg, Maryland on the afternoon of August 24, 1814, a small British force, consisting mainly of officers, marched into the capital . . . — — Map (db m102960) HM
The Potomac River begins as a small spring near Fairfax Stone, West Virginia. Like a giant funnel it gathers water from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia as it travels 383 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. . . . — — Map (db m4973) HM
(Preface): After Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's stunning victory at Chancellorsvile in May 1863, he led the Army of Northern Virginia west to the Shenandoah Valley, then north through central Maryland and across the Mason-Dixon Line into . . . — — Map (db m59675) HM
1785–1828
This canal, skirting the 76-foot drop of the Great Falls of the Potomac, was the most demanding and complex of the five canals built by the Patowmack Company. The company was founded by George Washington on May 17, 1785 to . . . — — Map (db m2096) HM
Here, at a former Nike missile site, the U.S. Army
Map Service established a research station to
support geo-location and navigation in 1961. Two
years later, the Map Service Initiated a significant
satellite tracking program that became part . . . — — Map (db m104755) HM
This will become the great avenue into the Western Country. - George Washington The stone wall you see nearby is not just any stone wall; it was built here in the late 1700s as part of George Washington's Patowmack Canal. The wall is a . . . — — Map (db m59681) HM
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