Potomac River

The Potomac River runs 383 miles (616 km) from the Fairfax Stone in West Virginia to Point Lookout, Maryland and drains 14,679 square miles (38,018 km²). The source of the North Branch is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant, Tucker, Preston counties in West Virginia. The source of the South Branch is located near Hightown in northern Highland County, Virginia. The river's two branches converge just east of Green Spring in Hampshire County, West Virginia to form the Potomac.

The Potomac River brings together a variety of cultures throughout the watershed from the coal miners of upstream West Virginia to the urban residents of the nation's capital and, along the lower Potomac, the watermen of Virginia's Northern Neck. In the 1960s, with dense green algal blooms covering the river's surface, President Lyndon Johnson declared the river "a national disgrace" and set in motion a long-term effort to reduce sewage pollution and restore the beauty and ecology of this historic river.

Political dividing point

Some commentators have suggested that, as the Mason-Dixon line demarcated the Northern United States from the Southern United States during the 19th Century, so the Potomac River has come to separate the Blue states from the Red States in 21st Century America . Since 2000, the river has symbolized a political border between Democratic Maryland (the North's southernmost state) and Republican Virginia (one of the South's northernmost states). In the context of presidential elections since 2000, West Virginia has gone to the Republican candidate, a rarity for the historically Democratic state.

However, it must be noted that Northern Virginia, the region located right next to the Potomac on the "red" side, has been voting blue with increasing consistency, notably Fairfax County, Arlington, and Alexandria.

Legal issues

For 400 years Maryland and Virginia have disputed control of the Potomac and its North Branch, since both states' original colonial charters grant the entire river rather than half of it as is normally the case with boundary rivers. In its first state constitution adopted in 1776, Virginia ceded its claim to the entire river but reserved free use of it, an act disputed by Maryland. Both states acceded to the Compact of 1785 and the 1877 Black-Jenkins Award which grants Maryland the river bank-to-bank from the low water mark on the Virginia side, while permitting Virginia full riparian rights short of obstructing navigation.

From 1957 to 1996, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) routinely issued permits applied for by Virginia entities concerning use of the Potomac, however, in 1996 the MDE denied a permit applied for by the Fairfax County Water Authority to build a water intake valve 725 feet offshore, citing potential harm to Maryland's interests by an increase in Virginia sprawl caused by the project. After years of failed appeals within the Maryland government's appeal processes, in 2000 Virginia took the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which exercises original jurisdiction in cases between two states. When West Virginia seceded from Virginia in 1863, the question of West Virginia's succession in title to the lands between the branches of the river was raised, as well as title to the river itself. Claims by Maryland to West Virginia land north of the South Branch (all of Mineral and Grant Counties and parts of Hampshire, Hardy, Tucker and Pendleton Counties) and by West Virginia to the Potomac's high water mark were rejected by the Supreme Court in two separate decisions in 1910. State of W.Va., 217 U.S. 577

North Branch Potomac River

The source of the North Branch Potomac River is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant, Tucker and Preston Counties in West Virginia.

North Branch tributaries

Tributaries are listed in order from the source of the North Branch Potomac River to its mouth.

South Branch Potomac River

The South Branch Potomac River has its headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia near Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. The mouth of the South Branch lies east of Green Spring in Hampshire County, West Virginia where it meets the North Branch Potomac River to form the Potomac.

South Branch nomenclature

Early pioneer sources claim that the indigenous Native Americans of the region referred to the South Branch Potomac River as the Wappatomaka. Other variants of this name throughout the river's history were South Branch of Potowmac River, South Branch of the Potowmac River, South Fork Potomac River, Wapacomo River, Wapocomo River, Wappacoma River, Wappatomaka River, and Wappatomica River.

Places settled in the South Branch valley bearing variants of "Wappatomaka" include Wappacoma plantation built in 1773 and the unincorporated hamlet of Wappocomo (sometimes spelled Wapocomo) at Hanging Rocks, both north of Romney on West Virginia Route 28.

South Branch headwaters and course

The exact location of the South Branch's source is northwest of Hightown along Parkersburg Pike (U.S. Route 250) on the eastern side of Lantz Mountain (3,934 feet) in Highland County. At Forks of Waters, the South Branch joins with Strait Creek and flows north across the Virginia/West Virginia border into Pendleton County. North of the confluence of the South Branch with Smith Creek, the river flows along Town Mountain (2,848 feet) around Franklin at the junction of U.S. Route 220 and U.S. Route 33.

In its eastern course from Petersburg into Hardy County, the South Branch becomes more navigable allowing for canoes and smaller river vessels. At Moorefield, the South Branch is joined by the South Fork South Branch Potomac River and runs north to Old Fields where it is fed by Anderson Run and Stony Run. At McNeill, the South Branch flows into the Trough where it is bound to its west by Mill Creek Mountain (2,119 feet) and to its east by Sawmill Ridge (1,644 feet). The South Branch continues north parallel to South Branch River Road (County Route 8) toward Romney with a number of historic plantation farms adjoining it. To the west of Three Churches on the western side of South Branch Mountain (3,028 feet), the South Branch creates a series of bends and flows to the northeast by Springfield through Blue's Ford. After another horseshoe bend, the South Branch flows under the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad mainline between Green Spring and South Branch Depot, and joins the North Branch to form the Potomac.

South Branch tributaries

North Fork South Branch Potomac River

The North Fork South Branch Potomac River forms just north of the Virginia/West Virginia border in Pendleton County at the confluence of the Laurel Fork and Straight Fork along Big Mountain (3,881 feet). From Circleville, the North Fork flows northeast through Pendleton County between the Fore Knobs (2,949 feet) to its west and the River Knobs (2,490 feet) to its east. Flowing east through North Fork Gap, the North Fork joins the South Branch Potomac at the town of Cabins, west of Petersburg.

South Fork South Branch Potomac River

The South Fork South Branch Potomac River forms just north of U.S. Route 250 in Highland County, Virginia near Head Waters and flows 55 miles north-northeastward to the South Branch Potomac River at Moorefield in Hardy County, West Virginia.

Upper Potomac River

This stretch encompasses the stretch of the Potomac River from the confluence of the North and South Branches to the Great Falls of the Potomac River at Great Falls, Virginia.

Upper Potomac tributaries

Tidal Potomac River

The Tidal or Lower Potomac River lies below the fall line. This stretch encompasses the Potomac from about one mile below the Washington, DC - Maryland line, just below the Little Falls of the Potomac River where the tidal river begins, to the Chesapeake Bay.

Tidal Potomac tributaries