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Visit a section of river between Caledon Natural Area and U.S. Route 301 Bridge...
Caledon Natural Area
Port Tobacco
Zekiah Swamp
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Port Tobacco received its current name in the early 1800s when the area was one of the most important tobacco ports on the river. Before this time the town was known as Charlestown by the colonists and earlier still as Potopaco by the Native Americans who first lived at the head of the Port Tobacco River.
Until the end of the Revolutionary War, the town was the second largest Potomac River port after Saint Mary’s City. But the port soon suffered from the erosion caused by the "slash and burn" agriculture that pervaded the Maryland and Virginia shores of the lower Potomac. As the forests along the Port Tobacco River’s shores were cleared and replaced by farming the soil was exposed and eroded by rain and wind. Over time the river began to fill with silt. By the time it received the name of Port Tobacco the town’s role as a port was already in serious decline. Today the Port Tobacco River is now primarily marsh and the town has shrunk to a quiet village with just a few remaining homes.
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