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Visit a section of river between the confluence of the Potomac with the Shenandoah River and Point of Rocks, Md.
Shenandoah River
Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
Appalachian Trail
Brunswick, Md.
Point of Rocks, Md.
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The Shenandoah River joins the Potomac at Harpers Ferry and together they rush through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Of the overlook above this gap, Thomas Jefferson wrote in Notes on the State of Virginia:
"The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. Your stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your lef approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea...
"...You cross the Potomac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown, and the fine country round that. This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."
The confluence of these two rivers and the geology of the nearby mountains also lead to the area's use for industrial and military purposes. It was here a national armory was established and here also that John Brown staged the raid that historians credit as the event that ultimately launched the Civil War.
Past Harpers Ferry, the historic towns of Brunswick and Point of Rocks were both important canal and railroad towns. At Point of Rocks the canal and railroad companies fought a legal battle for right-of-way along the river that lasted for several years. The canal ultimately won the right to use the shoreline, but was held up for several years by the litigation and ultimately lost the race to Cumberland to the railroad in part because of the delay. |
