Potomac Journey

The Potomac River has been a determining force in America's history and economic development, a catalyst for the country's environmental awakening, and an inspiration to recreational life in the mid-Atlantic states. Having canoed more than 9,000 miles on the Potomac and its tributaries, Richard Stanton offers a unique account of the nation's river and its environs. Stanton celebrates the Potomac in words and in previously unpublished historical photographs from Fairfax Stone in West Virginia, the so-called first fountain, to Georgetown. Through the stories of a nineteenth-century boatman, old photo albums, and interviews with area residents, Stanton recreates life on the Potomac River in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He describes with great care early runs down the river, George Washington's attempt to build bypasses around falls and rapids, the building of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with its colorful heyday and gradual decline, and the political debates over exploiting or preserving the river's wealth. Commenting on recent conservation efforts, Stanton traces the dramatic preservation campaign of the 1950s to save the canal from becoming a paved thoroughfare, recounts the severe floods over the past century and their effect on this national parkland, and documents the massive clean-up efforts to reverse the river's serious pollution problems. Stanton highlights natural and historical sites along the Potomac and offers practical advice based on firsthand experience to river travelers. Anglers, backpackers, bicyclists, birdwatchers, canoeists, history buffs, and armchair travelers will delight in Potomac Journey and gain from it a new respect for the fragile beauty and powerful force of this river.