I hope you and yours are doing well. I'm doing well, thanks to the Almighty! For today's "My Green Maryland," I'll be sharing interesting things about Maryland's own Patuxent River. The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between the two.
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson Photo by ROS Productions |
[1] Size
The 937-square-mile Patuxent watershed had a rapidly growing population of 590,769 in 2000. It is the largest and longest river entirely within Maryland, and its watershed is the largest completely within the state.
[2] County Boundaries
The Patuxent River marks the boundary between Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles and St. Mary's counties on the west and Howard, Anne Arundel, and Calvert counties on the east. The Chesapeake estuary's deepest point, 130 feet below sea level, is in the lower Patuxent.
[3] The Three Tributaries
The Little Patuxent River, the Middle Patuxent River, and the Western Branch are the three largest tributaries. The Middle Patuxent flows into the Little Patuxent just upstream from the historic Savage Mill in Savage. The Little Patuxent then joins the Patuxent just southwest of Crofton. The Middle Patuxent flows 24 miles (39 km) through the middle of Howard County, while the Little Patuxent flows 38 miles (61 km) through northeast and southeast Howard County and western Anne Arundel County. |
| Governor's Bridge over Patuxent River near Bowie, Maryland |
[4] Pauxent River State Park
Patuxent River State Park is located in Howard and Montgomery counties, along the upper 12 miles of the Patuxent River. The park is comprised of 6,700 acres of natural areas and farmlands. Recreational use is primarily hunting, fishing, hiking and horseback riding. A portion of the park is a state wildlands area.
[5] NAS Pax River
The Patuxent Naval Air Station at the mouth of the river has continued to grow over past decades, providing along with tourism another main economic engine in the lower river valley which includes the popular boating center of Solomons.
[Bonus] History and Commerce
Tobacco farming dominated the Patuxent's economy for the two centuries following settlement, with about sixty percent of Maryland's tobacco coming from the Patuxent valley by the late 18th century.
Ruby B. Johnson,
Your Miss Earth Maryland 2015
Continuing the legacy of beauty and responsibility
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