Potomac, Maryland In Images Of America
The United States is blessed with countless local communities, each with its own history. Local historian Judith Welles tells the story of Potomac, located in Montgomery County, Maryland, near the famous river and about fifteen miles from Washington, D.C. Potomac today is a suburb of Washington, D.C, and ranks among the wealthiest, best educated communities in the nation. The community has a fascinating history which rarely gets explored in depth. Written in 2019, Welles' book is the first on the local history of Potomac since the mid-1970s. The book is part of the Images of America series of photographic histories of American places. It features many rare images together with Welles' informative text and commentary.
This short book has an eye both for detail and for continuity. It begins with Captain John Smith's exploration of the area in the early 17th Century and concludes in about 2019, just before the pandemic. For many years, the heart of Potomac was a small crossroads surrounded by large farms. The early history of Potomac, in the years after the Civil War through the early 1940s, included a gold rush and a gold mine when Union soldiers passing through discovered gold nuggets. Later, in 1924, a different kind of mining figured into Potomac's history when an elderly woman, Lilly Moore Stone, 63, started and personally managed a stone quarry operation that continued in operation until 2006, providing stones for the National Cathedral, the National Zoo, and many other homes and buildings. These and smilar details enliven Welles' account.
The book shows a great deal of the C&O Canal and its impact on Potomac. Much of the book shows the rural, patrician character of the area from the outset with its rolling pastures suitable for farming, and foxhunting which focused on an annual event known as the Potomac Hunt. The book shows a great deal of the chase, the horses, dogs, and pomp, and its impact on the area.
With time, beginning in the 1940s, the small crossroads the formed the center of the community developed into a town, with stores, churches, shopping malls, and people. With its rural character and proximity to Washington D.C., Potomac has always attracted wealthy, powerful individuals looking for a peaceful, scenic place to live. But Wells' book commendably emphasizes the personal, community character of the area as well. She discusses auto repair shops gas stations, and small fast-food restaurants, for example, that had a common touch and that catered to all. She also shows the small African American communities in the area, particularly Tobytown and Scotland, which began and have continued as settlements of African Americans who lived in the area since the time of the Civil War.
Welles shows the development of Potomac from its pastoral beginnings through its years as a developing village to its current status as a prosperous, lively suburb. In the final chapter of her book, Welles stresses the community life and activities and sense of community cohesion in this American place.
I have lived in the Washington, D.C. area for over 40 years and have been through Potomac many times. I was grateful for the opportunity to learn something about the community and its history. Many of the photographs in this book were drawn from the archives of the Montgomery County Historical Society. Together with the many volumes in the Images of America series, this book offers a way to get to know one of the many unique, diverse places in our beloved country.
