Tag: Potomac River
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Antietam Topography
I crossed the Potomac River on my way back from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and drove into Sharpsburg, Maryland a few miles later, the site of the Battle of Antietam. I didn’t have a great deal of time for my visit but I was still able to stop at a few favorite spots within this well-known…
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The First Steamboat?
Robert Fulton invented the steamboat in 1807. The Clermont right? That’s what they taught us in school anyway. Actually, he built the first successful steamboat used commercially. However, he did not introduce first steamboat. If you listen to the folks in West Virginia, that honor should more properly go to James Rumsey. Shepherdstown Twelve Mile…
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Slug Lines
Geography can influence social behavior and that’s the case with slug lines. This article has nothing to do with gastropods. Rather it’s a commuting method originating organically without any type of government involvement or sanction in the Washington, DC area. Since then it has also spread to other cities. It’s an efficient arrangement that matches…
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The John McCain Flight
DISCLAIMER: This is a geography and travel blog, not a political blog. No endorsement or disparagement is intended. Later today I get to take the John McCain flight. No, I don’t get to fly with John McCain. I’m talking about the regularly-scheduled flight that is a small part of his political legacy. An Airport on…
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Unusual Goes Very Local, Part II
Continuing on the theme from the previous post, I have another example of a very local anomaly in Arlington County, Virginia. Hopefully you will enjoy this one too. I encourage you to check around your neighborhood and see if you can find your own strange situations. I’d be glad to feature any that you might…
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Narrowest Point in Maryland
Maryland is about 250 miles long and about 100 miles wide at its greatest extremities. However, at one point it narrows to less than two miles where it forms its western panhandle. This is due to one natural geographic feature and one artificial line determined by humans. The Maryland-West Virginia border along this stretch hugs…