Linking the Potomac and upper Ohio river basins from Chesapeake Bay and Potomac tidewater to the Allegheny Highlands, this national scenic trail network lets you retrace—by foot, bicycle, horse, or boat—the corridor George Washington explored as essential to U.S. national development.

Linking People and Places

The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail both encompasses and transcends the Potomac River. By varied modern means it lets you explore the landscapes and footsteps of George Washington and his prescient vision for western expansion in the 1700s. He could see that Pittsburgh was closer to Georgetown (and the future Washington, D.C.) than to Philadelphia. Washington's dream birthed the region's booming 1800s industry and commerce.

The region brims with tales about George Washington. From his Mount Vernon estate on the river, Washington recognized the Potomac's potential as a commercial artery between the Atlantic and "the Ohio countrie," a site for a major federal armory, and a capital city of the fledgling United States. The city would bear his name, and the Potomac become the nation's river.

George Washington's Patowmack Canal proved short-lived, but his foresight gave rise to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal that borders the river between Washington, D.C, and Cumberland, Md. Decades after the C&O's demise, the canalway would be preserved, thanks to Justice William O. Douglas and many other visionary conservationists, to become a national historical park.

Associations with this history are many today, and the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, designated by Congress in 1983, has become an expanding network of trails in a corridor that blends the heritage of the past with the needs of future generations. The corridor encompasses the Nation's Capital and landscapes that vary from tidewater marshlands and rolling foothills of the Piedmont to mountains and valleys of the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies.

(click for larger map)

The story today is one of people and organizations—in practice, planning, and partnerships—who seek to rediscover rivers and trails as windows onto the region's history, culture, and ecology. With modern tools like land trusts, community-based river corridor conservation, the Clean Water Act, and redevelopment of formerly polluted brownfields, they are imagining and building a new kind of conservation.

Enjoying the Trail Corridor's Mix of Natural and Cultural History

Opportunities abound to explore historic sites and museums and Civil War fortifications and battlefields. Frederick Gutheim, the biographer of the Potomac River, has written that you can discover the Potomac's lineage as a "fishery, granary, harbor, route, homesite, plantation, hunting ground, mine, power source, factory, swamp, and pleasure ground."

From hiking, biking, or horseback riding to canoeing, kayaking, or fishing, the Trail embraces manifold recreation opportunities and natural areas. See pileated woodpeckers, beavers, Virginia bluebells, and other birds, small mammals, and wildflowers. Or just relax and enjoy serene moments basking in the solitude beneath a majestic oak, maple, or sycamore.

Building Partnerships for Conservation and Recreation

Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail is part vision and part reality. Under the National Trails System Act, the Secretary of the Interior may designate trails between the Potomac River mouth and the Allegheny Highlands (except in West Virginia) as Trail segments, based on applications by local or state agencies. As of early 2009, over 800 miles of trails exist or are planned in the Trail network.

In addition to efforts to improve the health of the Potomac and other rivers in the Trail corridor, many communities are pursuing conservation and economic development goals to preserve historic landscapes and open space, to restore riverscapes, and to maintain local sources of food. At the same time, they create great opportunities for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, boating, and crosscountry skiing. The braided Trail network not only connects communities and special places but will link present and future generations to the rich natural and cultural heritage of the Potomac and upper Ohio river basins.

Safety Watch children near stream banks, cliffs, and automobile traffic. Beware of poisonous snakes and spiders and know how to identify and avoid poison ivy and poison oak. Observe the posted regulations and always wear life vests (PFDs) when on the water. Your safety is your responsibility.

Experience the Corridor of Commerce First Imagined by George Washington

A Growing Network of Trails and Waterways

Over a relatively short distance the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail embraces five distinct geographies, from "A Coastal Plain to Allegheny Plateau. This land-and-water network of trails connects you to America's history and continuing evolution: As urban areas expand, many communities are conserving lands for recreation and preserving their natural systems. For local information visit www.nps.gov/pohe and click on "Plan Your Visit."

Source: NPS Brochure (2009)

Establishment Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail — Mar. 28, 1983

For More Information Please Visit The OFFICIAL NPS WEBSITE

The contents of brochures, site bulletins and trading cards (denoted with a colored caption) can be viewed by clicking on the cover. Most modern-day brochures, however, are cover only (denoted by a white caption) due to photograph copyrights. These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. The dates under each brochure do not reflect the complete range of years that a particular brochure was issued.

2004		cover only Date Unknown, c2000s		cover only Date Unknown, c2000s
cover only 2007		cover only 2009-2011		cover only 2012-2014
cover only 2015-2020
Date Unknown		Plan Your Visit Date Unknown		Explore the Eastern Continental Divide Loop Date Unknown
Woodlawn Historic District 2017		Eastern Loudon County/Northern Fairfax County 2011		Southern Fairfax County/Prince William County Date Unknown
cover only Prince William County Between Locust Shade Park and Occoquan River Date Unknown		Explore Southern Prince George's by Bicycle May 2010		cover only Explore Virginia's Northern Neck by Bicycle Date Unknown
cover only Explore Virginia's Northern Neck Date Unknown		cover only Great Allegheny Passage 2007		cover only Great Allegheny Passage 2008
cover only Great Allegheny Passage 2010		cover only Great Allegheny Passage 2011		cover only Great Allegheny Passage 2013
cover only Great Allegheny Passage 2019		Map Date Unknown		Potomac Sport Fishing Date Unknown
Fishing on the Potomac A Guide to Safe and Sustainable Fishing Date Unknown		Creating the Fort Circle Parks Trail 2007		Potomac Gorge February 2005
Family Adventure Guide 2018

A Development and Management Plan For The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail In Virginia (Doug Pickford and Don Briggs, February 2006)

Common Interpretive Strategy for the Religious Freedom National Scenic Byway, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, Charles and St. Mary's Counties, Maryland (Heritage Strategies, October 2014)

Corridor Analysis For The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail In Northern Virginia (The Northern Virginia Regional Commission, June 2011)

Crystalline Rocks of the Potomac River Gorge Near Washington, D.C. U.S. Geological Survey Profesional Paper 414-H (John C. Reed, Jr. and Janice Jolly, 1963)

Foundation Document, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, District of Columbia/Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia (October 2014)

Foundation Document Overview, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, District of Columbia/Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia (October 2014)

Georgetown Pike Footpath Feasibility Study (Kimley Horn, November 2019)

Interpretive Concept Plan, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail (September 2004)

Route Marking & Graphic Identity Guide: Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail (2015)

Strategic Partnership Plan for the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail 2022-2027, Virginia-District of Columbia-Maryland-Pennsylvania (January 2022)

The Potomac Heritage Trail: A Proposed National Scenic Trail (December 1974)