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Except for John Denver, Shenandoah has taken back seat to Potomac River

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Jul 23, 2021

The Potomac River shines in the sun this spring 2021 file photo. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Throughout history, the Shenandoah River has never been able to toot its own horn.

Folk singer John Denver gave us a lyric or two about the leisurely stroll the river makes in his beloved “Country Roads.” And the western movie with the moniker “Shenandoah” opened just slightly a way to hear about the shallow and mostly rock-strewn waters of the river.

Civil War buffs soak themselves in the history of the comings and goings of the Union and Confederate armies through the early years of the 1860s in the beloved Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

But the Potomac River flows into Washington, D.C. and has the C&O Canal to buoy its historical significance. It seems as much or more history was created by the militaries of the North and South at Antietam, Harpers Ferry, Point of Rocks and Shepherdstown as it was along the shorelines and rolling hills where the Shenandoah still visits.

Maybe its because the river is more distant from the beaten paths (interstates and more heavily traveled thoroughfares) and has fewer historical venues placed on national lists of areas to be preserved by conservancies and the like. It can be somewhat underappreciated when compared with the Potomac.

But outdoors people, hikers and fishermen who know the Shenandoah and its less discovered friendships can duel out loud with the most fervent of the Potomac’s defenders.

There seems to be more accessibility to the Potomac with its landings and parking areas from near Williamsport down to Brunswick and beyond than from the mostly narrow and unpublicized lanes and roads that lead to the Shenandoah.

But the old timers talked of weeklong stays at fishing camps called “Sewell’s” and “Big Eddy” where extended families and friends set up large tents to sleep under by night and fish the rock-filled waters by day. Located near by in Kabletown and hard by the bridge that would carry Route 9 over the river near Hobo Flats after coming from the low-slung Blue Ridge Mountains, Hillsboro and Chestnut Grove toward Charles Town were “secret” fishing holes where catches were of such magnitude that they could feed the camps for the entire week. Battered fish fillets covered in corn meal and deep fried could be put with the fresh eggs and cream-topped milk brought from the dairy farms where the campers lived. Apples, cherries, peaches and a variety of berries from orchards could augment the bass, catfish and red-bellied “sunnies” that were going to be prepared.

What could the Potomac do to compete?

Getting farther away toward the south from Harpers Ferry and down toward Front Royal and Riverton and then Morgan’s Ford, Farms Riverview Landing, Berry’s Ferry, Lockes and Castleman’s Ferry there are shallow pools aplenty, riffles and bluegills, smallmouths and even walleyes to be fooled into believing they are striking at the tastiest of lures or baits.

A canoe or flat-bottomed boat are the best ways to travel the Shenandoah as it stretches back past where the North Fork and South Fork converge near Front Royal.

There is history in those crossroads hamlets the same as there was at Falling Waters, Williamsport and at the Battle of Monocacy near the Potomac.

While the Potomac has more creature comforts in its arsenal of tourist “wants,” the Shenandoah can be more of a young person’s (people still to reach 45 years of age) river than the more sedate Potomac with its wider reaches, picnic facilities at several landings in our area and restroom facilities.

Fame from its dealings with the federal government in Washington, D.C. doesn’t help the Potomac in its quest for the hold on the emotions of outdoorsmen or fishermen.

John Denver never plied the Shenandoah. No film star ever left the safety of his western movie set to cast a line into a pool just off to the side of a riffle. And Stonewall Jackson nor George McClellan never took out a crankbait and heaved it toward a near-motionless pool to catch his supper during a lull in the Civil War fighting.

But the Shenandoah River has its attractions — the same as it has since the days of hard tack, minnie balls, knapsacks and the acrid smell of war in the Virginia valley towns.