<ro> See Great Falls
<lst><b>C&O Canal National Historical Park
Great Falls entrance, MacArthur Boulevard and Falls Road, Potomac
301-767-3714
www.nps.gov/choh </b>
For centuries, visitors from all around the country have come to Great Falls for the breathtaking scenery. In C&O Canal National Historic Park, the closest entrance to Great Falls is located at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Falls Road, mere minutes from Potomac Village. Visitors to the park can enjoy several hiking trails, including the challenging Billy Goat Trail, picnic/snack areas and a museum/visitor center at Great Falls Tavern. There is a fee of $5 fee per vehicle or $3 per cyclist/walker at this entrance.
<ro>Visit Clara Barton's House
<lst><b>Clara Barton National Historic Site
Glen Echo Park
7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, 301-492-6245
www.nps.gov/clba</b>
Clara Barton was nearly killed while attending a wounded man at the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War in 1862. With the battle raging, a bullet passed through Barton’s sleeve and killed the man she was treating. These were the risks Barton ran as she brought medical supplies and treated soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. More than a century after Barton founded the American Red Cross, the organization is still at the forefront, providing relief in such disasters as Hurricane Katrina. Now a national historic site, the house at Glen Echo was a warehouse for disaster relief supplies until Clara Barton moved there in 1897 and lived there for the last 15 years of her life. She also used this house as the Red Cross headquarters. The house is shown by guided tours on a daily basis from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
<ro>See an Old Schoolhouse
<lst><b>Seneca Schoolhouse:
16800 River Road, Germantown
301-972-8588
www.poolesville.com (Click “Visitor’s Guide,” then “Seneca Schoolhouse Museum”)
Boyds Negro School House
19510 White Ground Road, Boyds
301-461-4646 </b>
What was it like to learn in a single-room schoolhouse with 25 students in grades 1-7 by a teacher living on $200 a year? The Seneca Schoolhouse Museum, up River Road near Poolesville, closed in 1910 but has since been restored to its original appearance. The schoolhouse is usually open on Sundays 12-5 p.m. Groups may schedule educational visits to the schoolhouse, where a teacher in period costume conducts classes using McGuffy’s Readers.
Another one-room schoolhouse, Boyds Negro School, stands as a reminder of the days when Montgomery County schools were segregated — county schools began integrating in the 1956-57 school year and finished in 1961. The Boyds School is open by appointment only, but the school’s interior is visible through the windows.
<ro>See a Historic Lockhouse
<lst><b>Lockhouse 8 River Center
301-608-1188
www.potomac .org/action/ctg/lockhouse.html
Rileys Lockhouse
Rileys Lock Road (off Route 190), Seneca
C&O Canal National Historical Park
301-767-3714
www.nps.gov/choh</b>
During the C&O Canal's operational period in the mid 19th century through the 1920s, lock operators lived in small houses beside each of the canal’s 74 locks, manning them day and night, year round. Most of the historic houses still stand, and several are occupied. One — Lockhouse 8 — has been restored in a three-year joint project of the National Park Service and Potomac Conservancy, and now functions as a visitors center, with displays on the ecology and history of the Potomac River and C&O Canal. Lockhouse 8 is accessible between milepost 7 and 8 along the C&O Canal, and there is parking off the Clara Barton Parkway East at the lots for Lock 10 and Lock 8.
The lockhouse at Riley's Lock can also be visited on weekends. In the spring, summer and fall months, girl scouts dressed in period clothing lead tours of Rileys Lockhouse and demonstrate tasks on Saturdays and Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
Most other lockhouses between Washington and Cumberland, Md. can only be viewed from the outside.
<ro> See a Civil War Site
<lst> <b>Blockhouse Point Conservation Park
From Potomac Village, drive north up River Road, pass Pennyfield Lock Road, and turn left into the parking lot a mile past Pennyfield.
www.mc-mncppc.org/gis/index.shtm Click "Park Maps," then "Blockhouse Point Convservation Park" for map</b>
In 1861, the Nineteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was ordered to protect a 13-mile stretch of the Potomac River from Seneca to Great Falls. The regiment completed three blockhouses, four feet thick and twelve feet high, just in time to be reassigned — they sustained 50 percent losses in the battle of Antietam. An astute observer can see the earthen rampart and Greek Cross formation in the remains of one of the blockhouses. A small parking lot is on River Road.
<ro> See a Replica Canal Boat
<lst><b>Great Falls Tavern
11710 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac
C&O Canal National Historical Park
301-767-3714
www.nps.gov/choh/Calendar/Canaller.html
www.BuildACanalBoat.com </b>
During the peak of the C&O Canal's days as a commercial venture, some 500 mule-drawn boats were making the 184-mile trek between Georgetown and Cumberland, Md. By Great Falls Tavern, visitors can board the "Canal Clipper" boat, modeled after the commercial barges, and interpreters are often aboard to answer questions on weekends. The bad news is that the Canal Clipper is immobile — irreparable damage to the hull put an end to the rides that 18,000 annual visitors enjoyed on the boat for 30 years.
Friends of Historic Great Falls Tavern are sponsoring a drive to replace a canal boat by Great Falls Tavern. Currently, the Canal Boat Fund has collected more than $515,000 — more than 90 percent of the way to its ultimate goal. Friends of the Tavern expect that a new boat will be in the canal by the end of this summer, and will offer rides by September. The new boat is modeled after “packet boats,” which ferried passengers along the canal between Georgetown and Great Falls during the canal’s operational days.
<ro> See a Canal Lock in Operation
<lst> <b>Great Falls Tavern
11710 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac
C&O Canal National Historical Park
301-767-3714
www.nps.gov/choh/Calendar/Canaller.html (Click "Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center") </b>
How did canal boats ascend and descend through the elevation changes in the C&O Canal? They went through 74 lift locks on the 184-mile trip between Georgetown and Cumberland, Md., each one maintained by a lockkeeper who lived in a house beside the canal. Lock 20 by Great Falls Tavern is operational, and park rangers give periodic demonstrations on how the locks functioned. Park rangers give lock demonstrations Wednesdays through Fridays, 2-2:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 1:30-2 p.m.
<ro> Visit F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Gravesite
<lst><b>St. Mary's Catholic Church
600 Veirs Mill Road, Rockville
www.peerlessrockville.org (Click "Peerless Places," then "F. Scott Fizgerald's Gravesite") </b>
Fitzgerald's classic novels were set in Long Island, the French Riviera and Princeton, N.J., but the author himself is buried alongside his wife Zelda in the cemetery beside St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Rockville, a National Register-listed historic site. Fitzgerald never lived in Montgomery County, but had friends and relatives in the area, and made periodic visits throughout his life.
The Fitzgeralds are buried in a relatively unassuming site, with a quote from “The Great Gatsby” inscribed on a ground tablet. Enter the cemetery through the gate by the old church, turn right and follow the white picket fence until it juts outward, then turn left and walk about 20 yards to the Fitzgeralds’ grave.
<ro> Visit Walter Johnson's Gravesite
<lst><b>Rockville Union Cemetery
1350 Baltimore Road, Rockville
www.thedeadballera.com/GravePhotos (Click “Walter Johnson") </b>
All apologies to Chad Cordero, but Washington's greatest all-time baseball pitcher was Walter Johnson, one of the five original-class Hall of Famers. Johnson had 417 career wins with the Senators from 1907-1927. After retiring from baseball, Johnson served on the Montgomery County Commission, precursor to today's Montgomery County Council, and lived on a farm in Germantown. He's buried in Rockville Union Cemetery.
<ro> See a Fire Station
<lst><b>Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department, Station 10
8001 River Road, Bethesda
301-365-2255
www.cjpvfd .org</b>
When the Jaws of Life cut up a car, it’s a sight to behold. The simulated car extraction is just one of the attractions at Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department’s annual open house. Other activities include live action demonstrations, including stop, drop and roll, and stove fire demonstrations. Proceeds benefit the station. Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department’s open house takes place every fall, usually in October.
<ro>See Stunning Potomac Homes
<lst><b>Annual Potomac Country House Tour
St. Francis Episcopal Church
10033 River Road, Potomac
301-365-2055
www.stfrancispotomac.org/pcht.htm</b>
St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac Village conducts an annual Potomac Country House Tour for charity. During two days each October, tour participants follow a provided map and booklet to four or five Potomac homes — some modern, some historic, but all fascinating. Recent tours included the home of oil painter Howard Behrens and the 18th-century homestead Walnut Grove. Events at St. Francis during the House Tour include a silent auction and luncheon.