The Potomac River is found within the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands into the Chesapeake Bay. The river is approximately 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 km2). In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the 21st largest in the United States. Over 5 million people live within the Potomac 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. In a few decades, the eastern seaboard was Chris-crossed by private turnpikes and canals were being built from Massachusetts to Illinois ushering in the brief seven decades of the American Canal Age. The Potomac Company's achievement was not just to be an early example, but of being significant also in size and scope of the project, which involved taming a mountain stream fed river with icing conditions and unpredictable freshets (floods).
The Shenandoah River is a tributary of the Potomac River, 55.6 miles (89.5 km) long with two forks approximately 100 miles (160 km) long each, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. The principal tributary of the Potomac, the river and its tributaries drain the central and lower Shenandoah Valley and the Page Valley in the Appalachians on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in northwestern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
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 & 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.
Hopeville is an unincorporated community on the North Fork South Branch Potomac River in Grant County, West Virginia, United States. Hopeville lies within the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest. It formerly had its own school and post office in operation until the middle of the 20th century.
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.
Abram Creek is a 19.4-mile-long (31.2 km) tributary stream of the North Branch Potomac River in Grant and Mineral counties in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
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.