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Visit a section of river between Keyser and Spring Gap...
Oldtown, Md.
South Branch Potomac River
Green Ridge State Forest
Paw Paw Tunnel
Little Orleans, Md.
Hancock, Md.
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Just two miles south and east of Oldtown, the South Branch joins the North Branch and the Potomac completes its transformation from high mountain stream to a wider, slower-moving river.
Further on, the river moves into a series of sharp turns referred to as the Paw Paw bends. Here the C&O canal company built the Paw Paw Tunnel. An impressive engineering accomplishment, the tunnel covers a little over a half-mile of canal and took over 12 years to build. This saved the canal company from building 5 miles of canal to follow the river's turns through the Paw Paw bends, but ultimately formed a bottleneck during the canal's busiest years since there was no room for passing or turning. One story tells of two captains heading opposite directions meeting in the middle of the tunnel. For several days neither captain would give way and blocked all traffic until canal workers finally succeeded in smoking them out by lighting a fire at the downwind end of the tunnel.
Small towns built during the heyday of the Canal and Railroad remain a point of interest and are well worth exploring. A ford across the Potomac at what is now Oldtown, MD led to establishment of early Indian settlements in the area. In 1740, early explorer Thomas Cresap built a residence on the site to trade with the Native Americans and the importance of the area as a trading station grew. Similarly, the town of Hancock, MD developed from a 1730s settlement of hunters and trappers called Northbend Crossing Settlement. Most of the towns have grown smaller since the river lost its importance as a main corridor for transportation, including Little Orleans, MD where little remains beyond a grocery store and campgrounds. |
