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The following have been listed as variant names of the Potomac River throughout its history by the Geographic Names Information System. The Board on Geographic Names officially decided upon Potomac as its spelling in 1931.
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The following have been listed as variant names of the Potomac River throughout its history by the Geographic Names Information System. The Board on Geographic Names officially decided upon Potomac as its spelling in 1931.
The Potomac River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States that flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of 14,700 square miles (38,000 km2), and is the fourth-largest river along the East Coast of the United States. More than 6 million people live within its watershed.
The Potomac Company was created in 1785 to make improvements to the Potomac River and improve its navigability for commerce. The project is perhaps the first conceptual seed planted in the minds of the new American capitalists in what became a flurry of transportation infrastructure projects, most privately funded, that drove wagon road turnpikes, navigations, and canals, and then as the technology developed, investment funds for railroads across the rough country of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Patowmack Canal, sometimes called the Potomac Canal, is a series of five inoperative canals located in Maryland and Virginia, United States, that was designed to bypass rapids in the Potomac River upstream of the present Washington, D.C., area. The most well known of them is the Great Falls skirting canal, whose remains are managed by the National Park Service since it is within Great Falls Park, an integral part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
The South Branch Potomac River has its headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia, near Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. After a river distance of 139 miles (224 km), the mouth lies east of Green Spring, Hampshire County, West Virginia, where it meets the North Branch Potomac River to form the Potomac.
The Little Cacapon River is a 25.1-mile-long (40.4 km) free-flowing tributary of the Potomac River in the center of Hampshire County, West Virginia. Via the Potomac River, its waters are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, leading to the Atlantic Ocean. The Little Cacapon enters the Potomac at an elevation of 499 feet (152 m) near the community of Little Cacapon. For the majority of its course the Little Cacapon is a shallow non-navigable stream. It has been historically referred to as both Little Cacapehon and Little Capecaphon. The name is pronounced kə-KAY-pən or KAY-pən.
South Branch Depot also known as South Branch is an unincorporated community in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Originally known as Forks of Potomac because of its proximity to the confluence of the North and South Branches of the Potomac River and then later in the early 20th century as French's Station and then simply South Branch, South Branch Depot served as a depot and post office on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad since the railroad was constructed there in the 1840s. Today, South Branch Depot may only be reached from Levels by way of Frenches Station Road.
Sleepy Creek is a 44.0-mile-long (70.8 km) tributary of the Potomac River in the United States, belonging to the Chesapeake Bay's watershed. The stream rises in Frederick County, Virginia, and flows through Morgan County, West Virginia before joining the Potomac near the community of Sleepy Creek.
Catoctin Creek is a 14.1-mile-long (22.7 km) tributary of the Potomac River in Loudoun County, Virginia, with a watershed of 59,000 acres (240 km2). Agricultural lands make up 67 percent and forests 30 percent of Catoctin Creek's watershed. It is the main drainage system for the northern Loudoun Valley, including all of the Catoctin Valley.
Lunice Creek is a 7.3-mile-long (11.7 km) tributary of the South Branch Potomac River, belonging to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. The creek is located in Grant County, West Virginia. Lunice Creek is created by its North and South Forks and empties into the South Branch at Petersburg.
Palo Alto is an unincorporated community in Highland County, Virginia, United States. Palo Alto is located 11.4 miles (18.3 km) east-northeast of Monterey, Virginia on the South Fork South Branch Potomac River. The confluence of Spring Run with the South Fork South Branch Potomac River occurs near the community and Highland County's border with Pendleton County, West Virginia is located less than 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) north of Palo Alto.
Goose Creek is a 53.9-mile-long (86.7 km) tributary of the Potomac River in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties in Northern Virginia. It comprises the principal drainage system for the Loudoun Valley.
Reddish Knob of Shenandoah Mountain is one of the highest points in Virginia, rising 4,397 feet (1,340 m). A narrow, paved road reaches the summit from Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Head Waters is an unincorporated community in Highland County, Virginia, United States. Head Waters is located approximately 4.25 miles (6.84 km) east of McDowell on US 250. The South Fork South Branch Potomac River rises north of Head Waters, hence the community's name. Head Waters has a post office with ZIP code 24442.
The Great Indian Warpath (GIW)—also known as the Great Indian War and Trading Path, or the Seneca Trail—was that part of the network of trails in eastern North America developed and used by Native Americans which ran through the Great Appalachian Valley. The system of footpaths extended from what is now upper New York to deep within Alabama. Various Native peoples traded and made war along the trails, including the Catawba, numerous Algonquian tribes, the Cherokee, and the Iroquois Confederacy. The British traders' name for the route was derived from combining its name among the northeastern Algonquian tribes, Mishimayagat or "Great Trail", with that of the Shawnee and Delaware, Athawominee or "Path where they go armed".
Broad Run is a tributary of the Potomac River in Loudoun County, Virginia. The creek, located between Goose Creek and Sugarland Run, principally drains portions of eastern Loudoun County, as well as a small portion of western Fairfax County.
Judy Gap is an unincorporated community in Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States. Judy Gap is located at the junction of U.S. Route 33 and West Virginia Route 28, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) west-northwest of Franklin, just west of the mountain gap also called Judy Gap. The Judy Rocks geological formation is just to the south. North Fork Mountain is to the east, and the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River is to the west, with Spruce Mountain and Spruce Knob beyond the river. Most of the surrounding land is within the Monongahela National Forest.
Forks of Waters is an unincorporated community located in Highland County, Virginia, United States. Forks of Waters is located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Monterey, Virginia at the junction of U.S. Route 220 and Virginia State Route 642. Forks of Waters is so named due to the convergence of the Strait Creek with the South Branch Potomac River near the community. After passing through Forks of Waters, the South Branch Potomac River enters West Virginia approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northeast.
Big Run is a river of 13 miles in length, located one-and-a-half miles west of Spruce Knob in Monongahela National Forest, in Pendleton County, West Virginia. It is a tributary of the North Fork South Branch Potomac River.