Palisades of the Potomac: Scenery Unsurpassed

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The Palisades of the Potomac are the steep cliffs of the river gorge above Great Falls, where the Potomac cuts through layered rock on its way toward the Atlantic. The title's boast of "scenery unsurpassed" was a common phrase in nineteenth-century travel writing, when the Potomac gorge drew visitors from Washington and wrote about the river as a scenic wonder rather than a working waterway. Views like this one helped build the case for preserving the landscape, a concern that later shaped the protection of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal corridor and the surrounding parkland.

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