Eight Rivers

Early in the 19th century, when Thomas Jefferson was president, he commuted from his home to his office—a distance of about 125 miles—on a horse.  (It was his own horse, by the way, not one provided by the taxpayer.)  Mr. Jefferson had this to say about his commute:  "Of eight rivers between here and Washington, five have neither bridges nor boats."  Amazing.  When the President of the United States went to work in 1802, he swam five rivers.

That was two hundred years ago.  And, I guess that is a long time.  On the other hand, it is not that long in the whole scheme of human civilization.  But, how things have changed.  I would bet that our current president could not name eight rivers between Monticello and Washington, and that not so much as one toe of his has ever been wetted in any of them.  (And that is no knock on our current president.  I would say the same thing of every one of them back to about the days of Abe Lincoln.)

Rural Ways has wetted a toe in the Potomac.  So that is one of the eight.  But, what are the other seven?  Has my reader ever travelled from Charlottesville to DC?  Let's see, the Rivanna, for sure.  Then there is maybe the Pamunkey.  After that, would be the Rapidan and Rappahannock.  I can only guess beyond those two.  The Pohick?  The Accotink?  Holmes Run?  That would be seven.  Plus, the Potomac makes eight.

When Jefferson was president, he could say that he really knew his country.  I mean, knew it personally, like you know the path back and forth across your driveway to the car and the trash can.  Not anymore.  One of the things we lost when we gained modern transportation was this knowledge of our geography—the kind knowledge that can only be gathered by putting one's horse into, say, five out of every eight rivers.