PHNST Regional Interpretation Enhancement Project
Project Background
The PHNST represents a historic, cultural, and natural resource for the region’s residents and visitors to explore and enjoy. While the PHNST is most recognized for highlighting the travels of George Washington in the 18th century, the trail corridor also holds substantial history relating to Native American civilizations prior to European arrival as well as African American experiences through the Underground Railroad and Civil War in the 19th century. Several areas along the trail are specially recognized by the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom as historically significant sites to the legacy of the Underground Railroad.
Despite the PHNST's diverse ties to the Potomac and broader Chesapeake Bay watershed, Northern Virginia residents and visitors are often unaware that the PHNST exists due to a lack of public information and promotion both along the trail and in surrounding communities. Further, although some forms of interpretation have been sporadically placed along the trail, there is limited documentation of their precise locations, content, or quality. Interpretation that has been identified largely appears outdated and does not share inclusive messaging to represent the full extent of the watershed’s heritage and perspectives. As such, in 2023 the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) proposed the PHNST Regional Interpretation Enhancement Project to fill these critical gaps in knowledge and engagement around the underrepresented and untold stories of the watershed’s history, cultures, and natural resources.
Thanks to funding awarded by the National Park Foundation, to accomplish the goals above, NVRC staff will identified the extent of interpretation that currently exists along the trail through volunteer-driven documentation of the content and quality of wayside exhibits and other signage. Learn more about the data collection process through the wayfinding and amenities sister study, and click on the link below to view the locations and content of current information panels through interactive maps:
The project then included comprehensive research and inventorying of relevant materials, media, and other resources relating to events, stories, and figures in the region’s history. Following the accomplishment of these activities, NVRC staff developed new interpretive media, including wayside exhibits and educational brochures, to interweave the collected stories and provide a more inclusive, comprehensive view of the watershed’s heritage.
Overall, through ongoing collaboration and engagement with NPS, PHNST stakeholders, and other community-based organizations, the project aimed to create a more inclusive and meaningful trail user experience for both residents and visitors to the region.
As part of this project, NVRC staff has collaborated with several organizations in the Northern Virginia area to learn more about the region's ecology, culture, and history and to hear perspectives on what stories and narratives have been left out of existing signage. To compliment the new signs being developed, NVRC has compiled resources provided by these organizations.
Informational Resources
As part of this project, NVRC staff reached out to numerous historical societies, museums, naturalists, ecologists, and more. Based on availability and responses, NVRC interviewed the following groups:
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Staff from Leesylvania State Park
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Staff from Riverbend Park
NVRC is currently developing new and/or improved signs for Bazil Newman Riverfront Park (Loudoun County), Bles Park (Loudoun County), Leesylvania State (Prince William County), and The Town of Occoquan (Prince William County).
Given the breadth of information provided by interviewees and the limited size and number of interpretive signs NVRC can develop through this project, not all potential topics could be incorporated into the signage. However, the groups above provided a diverse range of resources which you can explore below to learn more about the history, cultural, and natural landscapes of Northern Virginia.
Bazil Newman:
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Bazil Newman and Edwards Ferry by Rod Mackler (from Along the Towpath, 2021)
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Local park named for black entrepreneur of the early 1800s - Ashburn Magazine
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Souders, Bronwen. "Bazil Newman, 1779-1852,” in Essence of a People II: African Americans Who Made Their World Anew in Loudoun County and Beyond, edited by Kendra Y. Hamilton. Leesburg, Virginia: Black History Committee of the Friends of the Thomas Balch Library, Inc, 2002, pp. 3-6
Bles Park:
General Background Information on Native American Tribes of the Potomac Region:
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Burr, Charles R. (1919) A Brief History of Anacostia, Its Name, Origin and Progress, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 1920, Vol. 23, pp. 167-179.
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Educational Resources from the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Va
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Egloff, Keith and Deborah Woodward (2006). First People: The Early Indians of Virginia, Second Edition, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA, 96 pgs.
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Mann, Charles C. (2006). 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus. Knopf , New York, NY, 465 pgs.
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Mann, C. C. (2011). 1493: Uncovering the new world Columbus created. Knopf, New York, NY, 690 pgs.
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Technology Tells a Story (Alexandria Archaeology Museum)
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Virginia's First People Past and Present (VA Department of Education)
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Wolfe, Brendan. "Indigenous Peoples in Virginia" (2020) in Encyclopedia Virginia.
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Wood, Karenne (2008). The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail, 2nd edition, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, USA, 88 pgs.
Geology of the Potomac:
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Geology of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and Potomac River Corridor, District of Columbia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia (Southworth et al., 2008)
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Geology of Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail (Katharine Loughney, 2012)
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Multiple Paleozoic Metamorphic Histories, Fabrics, and Faulting in the Westminster and Potomac Terranes, Central Appalachian Piedmont, Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland (Kunk et al., 2016)
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Potomac Gorge, Montgomery County, MD/Fairfax County, VA (Maryland Department of Natural Resources)
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The river and the rocks: The geologic story of Great Falls and the Potomac River Gorge (Reed et al., 1980)
Heater's Island (Loudoun County, Virginia / Frederick, Maryland):
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Heater's Island Site Summary from Dennis C. Curry and the Maryland Historical Trust
- Visit the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum to view its large collection of artifacts from the island
Islands of the Potomac River: Where are they and how are they formed?
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An Overview of Factors Affecting River Stability (Roy E. Trent & Scott A. Brown)
Selden Island (Loudoun County, Virginia / Montgomery County, Maryland):
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Maryland's National Register Properties: Walker Prehistoric Village Archeological Site
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The language of the motif; an analysis of the Walker Village Late Woodland ceramics (Roland Edward McDaniel, 1987)
The Goose Creek Canal
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A Canal Conundrum by Travis Shaw
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Goose Creek Canal – An Ill-fated Project by Eugene Scheel
The Town of Occoquan and the Occoquan River:
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Neabsco and Occoquan: The Tayloe Family Iron Plantations, 1730-1830, a book by Laura Croghan Kamoie
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Virginia's First Highways (City of Alexandria)
Fun Facts:
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During Prohibition, the Riverbend area was known as Hell’s Half Acre. There is extensive evidence of stills in Riverbend Park. The dirt road portion of Bootlegger Trail is believed to have been used to transport moonshine to roads leading to Washington. After Prohibition, several fishing camps and tourist camps were established between Great Falls and Riverbend (as detailed by the Fairfax County Master Naturalists).
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Conn's Ferry used to operate from where the current boat ramp is located at Riverbend Park. Learn more about the Conn's Ferry uses and history.
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Virginia was one of the first major gold-producing states in the U.S., but it has seen only limited and intermittent gold mining activity in the last 70 years. Read this report to learn more about the gold deposits in Virginia and see a map of Virginia's gold mining belt.
Heaters Island and the Piscataway Indians (Photo by Kristia Beck)
Meander River (Source: Ausable River Association)