Last week, my husband, Clay, and I kayaked with friends on two historic rivers. On Monday, we paddled a stretch of the Potomac in Maryland, and on Wednesday, we paddled (and carried, due to low water) our boats down the Shenandoah.

For our Potomac trip, we put our boats in at Brunswick, Maryland, and traveled about six miles to our take out spot at Point of Rocks. People have been exploring and paddling on this section of the river for hundreds of years. During the Civil War, the river formed a physical and political boundary between states of the Union (Maryland) and the Confederacy (Virginia). Crossed by Yankees and Rebels, housewives and businessmen, smugglers and slaves, this river played a key role in life and death stories of the war. 

Life on the Potomac as we saw it last week, now includes stealthy Great Blue Herons, swooping tree swallows, and shiny blue-bodied damselflies that like to ride on my kayak. Though the river flowed calmly on that day, I thought about the power it possesses – power to support life, affect the land, and change history. 

When it comes to history, the Shenandoah, a tributary of the Potomac, has plenty of stories to tell as well. On Wednesday, we started at the small town of Shenandoah, where we purchased drinks and snacks for our eight mile trip downriver. Daniel and Henry Forrer founded the town in 1837, realizing the wealth of natural resources in the area. Iron ore, hardwoods, limestone and water power played a huge part in development along this stretch of river and also in the Civil War. Iron ore, smelted into pig iron, was shipped to Richmond, the Confederate capital, along with cannonballs and gunpowder made in the area. 

This winding stretch of the river provided beautiful vistas. We had Masanutten Moutain in view for the last couple of miles. Wildlife sightings included bald eagles soaring overhead and, as our group pulled the boats out of the water at our take out point, we were greeted by a “mud puddle club” – a gathering of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies – on the bank. Butterflies get much of their nutrition from flower nectar, but they often cluster around a mud puddle to take in minerals and salts from the soil. 

The Swallowtails provided a nice ending to our Shenandoah trip. We had two wonderful days on two scenic, historic waterways.. The rivers, our nation’s arteries, have served us well for hundreds of years, but we must take care of them. Watch for cleanups in your area. You may contact your local Soil and Water Conservation District for information on stream and river cleanup opportunities. 

This week’s art illustrates a quote that describes how I felt about my time on the rivers. I used colored pencils on Strathmore 100lb. Bristol board, a smooth heavy weight paper. For colored pencils, I like to use Berol Prismacolor and Faber Castell Polychrome as these brands come in a plethora of colors and contain more pigment than some other brands, making them really fun to work with. The vibrant colors can be easily blended on the smooth paper.