History
On the 1612 John Smith map, it was called the Bolus River. It has never been a major path of commerce since it is not navigable further upstream than Elkridge. However, the Patapsco valley was used as the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's original main line west constructed from 1829 onwards, and this route remains, though much altered. Many old railroad bridges lie along the valley, most notably the Thomas Viaduct and the ruins of the Patterson Viaduct. Flour mills and a hydropower dam were formerly powered by the river.
The valley is prone to flooding, though at long intervals. The most recent severe flood occurred in 1972 as a result of rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, in which Ellicott City and the Old Main Line sustained serious damage.
The Patapsco River featured prominently in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. This is where Francis Scott Key, while aboard a British ship, wrote a poem which would later become the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Today, a red, white, and blue buoy marks the spot where the HMS Tonnant was anchored.
Read more about this topic: Patapsco River
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)