July 22, 2002
Most people are drawn to Potomac because of its beauty and sense of spaciousness, because it is so green and yet close to our Nation's Capitol.
There is a sense of history being preserved and lived day to day, a feeling that harkens us back to our childhoods.
Perhaps we remember a Sunday drive in the country to a place that looked something like this. Stretches of deep woodland and fields of buttercups or Queen Anne's Lace. Winding lanes through glens where small bridges crossed sparkling streams lit by shafts of sunlight that found their way through the leafy canopy overhead. The glimpse of a house through the trees.
Maybe a red fox crossed the road. Certainly the woods were filled with the music of songbirds.
Potomac still holds these lovely images. They are part of our community life. We still have two-lane roads following what were once Indian trails or wagon routes to market and horses still graze in roadside pastures.
FEW REALIZE why Potomac has retained the poetry of a landscape rich in trees and streams with names like Rock Run and Watts Branch.
The Potomac Subregion is designated a residential "green wedge" in our County planning documents. Preservation of the environment is what determines our character. We are one of only two such areas in Montgomery County. Both were given the "green wedge" distinction to protect watersheds of the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers, both vital to the public water supply.
We are intended to buffer and guard the Agricultural Reserve. We take our name from the Potomac River, which flows along our southern and western border.
We are 66 square miles of semi-rural land sloping toward the Potomac River where native Americans once had to portage their canoes around Great Falls. Those same falls are now a major feature of our region, drawing millions of visitors each year who come to see the waters of the mighty Potomac spill magnificently over the steep, rocky gorge that marks its fall line.
HAVING A NATIONAL PARK on the doorstep is a great luxury for our community. The C&O Canal National Park protects the forests bordering the river and provides a route to walk, ride a horse or bike from Georgetown in D.C. to Cumberland, Md.
We are equally blessed with stream valley parks on all the major tributaries leading to the Potomac River. The concentrated planning effort to protect our Potomac water resources has also given us our low-density zoning and sense of green space.
The Potomac Subregion has 11,000 acres of forest, which means diverse and abundant wildlife.
Potomac has become a paradise for bird watching, wild flowers in the spring, horseback riding, fishing, and kayaking. Potomac holds geological wonders and a globally unique ecosystem called the Serpentinite Barrens.
LIKE THE WILDLIFE around us, we, too, are a diverse community. Potomac has always drawn people who want to stretch out a bit and feel a larger world around them, so it has become the home of pioneers and individualists of all kinds.
Historically, Potomac had farmers, gold miners and people who lived off the river. There were grain mills along the streams where residents fished for brook trout.
A strong black community took root in Potomac and still survives. We have a growing Asian population and a highly successful Chinese Immersion Program in Potomac Elementary School.
There is a community theater company, an excellent library, golf courses and a real village center.
TO KEEP POTOMAC’S character, residents are vigilant about protecting the natural and historic resources that make us what we are — our forests, rustic roads and stream valley parklands. Our community activism is renowned in organizations like the West Montgomery County Citizens Association, The Friends of Great Falls Tavern, The Glen Preservation Foundation and numerous garden clubs.
Thanks to a community that knows the value of what is here, Potomac has grown wisely so you can have a quality of life unmatched in the metropolitan area and still drive through leafy glens beside streams where foxes pause to drink. You can even walk the C&O canal along the river as far as you wish on a fine autumn day.
Ginny and George Barnes are each past-presidents of West Montgomery County Citizens Association, environmental activists and recent "citizens of the year," as named by the Potomac Chamber of Commerce.