News and Events
Great Falls National Park
October 6, 2009
Before the sun could rise, the Chesapeake Semester students were up with a fresh pot of coffee, cooking eggs and oatmeal. By 8:30 they had packed up camp and were on the road just in time to catch a glimpse of a black bear along Skyline Drive. Before heading back into the coastal plain, the students stopped at Great Falls National Park to explore the fall line that separates the from the Piedmont Plateau and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Here they also had a glimpse into the past as they walked the remnants of the Patowmack Canal constructed in 1785.
Click to enlarge photos by Mike Hardesty '05.
Students orient themselves inside the Great Falls National Park Visitor Center with Ranger Cheryl Bresee.
Laura Carman '12 and Benjy Duke '10 look on as Ranger Bresee discusses the past geology of the watershed.
Great Falls has seen a number of floods over the years. In 1996 the river rose 45 ft and is marked on the pole standing behind Ranger Bresee.
Laura Lazenby '11 and Laura Carman '12 look out over the Great Falls on a beautiful early fall day.
Students stop to listen to Ranger Bresee discuss the diverse uses of the area over the years, one of which included an amusement park in the 1950s.
Students traverse the distinct geology of the area, walking on the former river bottom of the Potomac.
Ranger Bresee explains the lock and canal system that the Patowmack Canal Company employed as one of the 5 skirting canals on the Potomac used to access the Ohio River Valley in the 18th century.
A glimpse of how the goods and people would have traveled the canal.
Great Falls of Mather Gorge.