Piscataway Park: A Must See on the Potomac Trail

If the Potomac River could speak, it would tell of whittling paths, changing routes, expansion, changing drainage patterns, and the plants, animals, and people who depend on its water and surrounding ecosystems. Piscataway Park is one stop along the 290 mile Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail and plays an important role in protecting the history of the Potomac River Basin. We can explore the Potomac through Piscataway Park from a period prior to human habitation to the present day. 

PISC 19856: Fossil matrix with worm burrows

PISC 19857: Internal mold of marine snail

Piscataway Park preserves and contains fossils that demonstrate an extensive history of life, changing landscapes, and climates in the Coastal Plain Province. During the Early Cretaceous, sandy coastal sediments accrued in the province. These sandy deposits continued well into the Cenozoic Era. The Aquia Formation was formed during the first period, the Tertiary Period, of this era. The Aquia Formation consists primarily of sand and shelly marine deposits. These deposits contain fossil matrix with worm burrows as well as marine snail, cownose ray, and clam fossils. They depict life in the Coastal Plain 55 million years ago and in what is today the state of Maryland.

PISC 19859: Fossilized cownose ray dental plate

PISC 21799: Internal cast of a clam

PISC 19835: Late Archaic Homes Dart Point

Archaeological evidence suggest that Native peoples arrived in the Potomac River Basin around 11,000 years ago. The first inhabitants contributed to the Paleo-Indian Clovis culture. People from this culture obtained a large portion of their subsistence from hunting big game. Subsequent Archaic culture populations saw grasslands replace forest and the retreat of big game to the north. Thus, Archaic peoples survived by gathering edible fruits, seeds, and vegetables, hunting small game, and acquiring aquatic animals, like shellfish.

When Europeans began to colonize the Potomac River Basin in the 17th century, they began the process of pushing Native peoples west and north through wars, treaties, and disease. Colonists also brought large populations of enslaved individuals into the basin. Many enslaved individuals used the Potomac River as a link to the free state of Pennsylvania between the American Revolution and the Civil War. George Washington also saw the Potomac as a guide and set out to make the river a potential avenue into the western country. Although his dream was never realized, a succession of roads, fords, ferries, bridges, railroads, turnpikes, and canals followed and/or traversed the Potomac. This construction coincided with centuries of suppressed fires, agriculture, over fishing, and urbanization, followed by industrialization and chemical agriculture. These transitions impacted the Potomac River by increasing the amount of trash, waste, chemicals, and other pollutants in the river.  By 1950 the river was so polluted that it was considered dead. This realization sparked environmental efforts to clean up the river and protect the capital’s primary watershed and source of water. Today the river is healthier, but efforts continue to improve its health and the health of the plant and animal communities it supports.

PISC 19337: Young male Whitetail

The Accokeek Foundation plays an important role in protecting the Potomac’s natural communities. This foundation has partnered with the National Park Service for over 50 years and more recently with the Piscataway People of Maryland to steward, conserve, and sustain the natural and cultural heritage of Piscataway Park. In line with their cultural heritage efforts, the Accokeek Foundation established the National Colonial Farm in 1958 to preserve 18th century agricultural methods, livestock, and crops. These heritage livestock include the American Milking Devon Cattle, Black Spanish Turkeys, Buckeye Chickens, Hog Island Sheep, and Ossabaw Hogs.  Most of these livestock are either on the critical or threatened list of the American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC). The foundation also established the Museum Garden which hosts plants from several continents in a thriving ecosystem replete with a myriad of insects. Visit the Piscataway Park page to learn more about this stop on the Potomac Trail and its partnering
organizations.

References:

https://www.nps.gov/PISC/index.htm
http://accokeekfoundation.org/
https://www.nps.gov/pohe/index.htm
https://www.nps.gov/cue/geology/geo_coastalplain.htm