Potomac River

The Potomac River is an American waterway that runs through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia.http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://md.water.usgs.gov/publications/ofr-97-200/fig1.gif&imgrefurl=http://md.water.usgs.gov/publications/ofr-97-200/ofr-97-200.html&h=836&w=1200&sz=131&tbnid=B-ijNE-TlfR_uM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpotomac%2Briver%2Bmaps&zoom=1&q=potomac+river+maps&usg=__4MVPHbNQCcCrKhHNgJiFE4AElf8=&sa=X&ei=c0fUTJWOI4P98AbCkoGpCg&ved=0CCoQ9QEwBQ The river extends 383 miles from Fairfax Stone, West Virginia to Point Lookout, Maryland.http://www.potomacriver.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=57 The Potomac marks the border between Maryland and Virginia and Washington, DC and Virginia and is host to a number of historic sites and landmarks, including the C&O Canal and the Civil War military base Harpers Ferry.http://www.bikewashington.org/canal/canal_e.php

In September 2010, a scientific study was released that determined that the Potomac was cleaner and healthier than it had been since the 1950s, and that the amount of critical grass beds has doubled. Scientists attribute the progress to improvements at Washington, DC's water and sewage treatment plant.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090703555.html?hpid=topnews In August of the same year, an eight-foot shark was captured by local fisherman Willy Dean on the Potomac in St. Mary's County, Maryland.http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird/8-Foot-Shark-Caught-in-Potomac-River-101987408.html

A number of prominent historical figures have traveled and visited the Potomac over the centuries. The first European to explore the Potomac was Spanish Admiral Pedro Memendez in 1565. The English Captain John Smith explored the river as far as Great Falls, Virginia in 1608. A number of the wealthiest and most influential colonial families situated their homes on the Potomac during the colonial period, including the Calverts, Fairfaxes, and Carolls, after whom various counties in Maryland and Virginia were named.http://www.dcpages.com/History/dchistory.html George Washington's home Mount Vernon also sits alongside the Potomac, and Washington himself believed that the river might extend all the way to major inland waterways like the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A30334808 Abolitionist John Brown led his raid on the Harper's Ferry military base on the Potomac in 1859, an event that is credited with helping instigate the Civil War.http://www.bikewashington.org/canal/canal_e.php The river was extremely polluted for much of the 20th century, clogged with algae and largely devoid of vegetation; in the 1960's, President Lyndon Johnson dubbed it a national disgrace.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090703555.html?hpid=topnews