Great Falls (Potomac River)
Great Falls is a series of rapids and waterfalls on the Potomac River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream from Washington, D.C., on the border of Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia. The Potomac and the falls themselves are legally entirely within Maryland, as the state's boundary follows the south bank of the river.
The Great Falls as seen from Northern Virginia
Great Falls panorama from Virginia
Great Falls panorama from Maryland
Aerial view, 1945
The Potomac River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States that flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of 14,700 square miles (38,000 km2), and is the fourth-largest river along the East Coast of the United States and the 21st-largest in the United States. More than 5 million people live within its watershed.
Potomac River
The Potomac River in Washington, D.C., with Arlington Memorial Bridge in the foreground and Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia in the background
The North Branch between Cumberland, Maryland, and Ridgeley, West Virginia, in 2007
Canoers at Hanging Rocks on the South Branch in the 1890s
