Discover Potomac

Potomac offers two specific starting points for planning your trip: a signed walking route to City Park and a local history featuring dated events and specific addresses. If you’re looking for a hotel in Potomac, you can first consider whether you’d like to focus your stay on the trail and park or on historic sites. The route offers a geographical starting point, while the historical dates guide you through different stages in the community’s development.

Walking Route and City Park

An older route description documents a signed walking route from the edge of town to City Park. It follows the paved sidewalk on the south side of US 136 west, leads to a bike path, and continues to City Park. As the route description is older, check local surface conditions before setting out. City Park also has two artesian wells.

Another historical reference to water concerns artesian wells south of Potomac: they fed the stream and kept it flowing year-round. The two water references should be distinguished geographically: there are two wells in City Park, while the historical reference to the stream concerns wells south of Potomac. This brings together a specific park feature and a historical account of the water supply.

Local History Through Dates and Addresses

On May 1, 1869, Potomac was platted as Marysville. The Potomac Public Library opened at its original location on September 8, 1939. The two dates mark different milestones: the platting under the former name and the opening of a local institution seventy years later. Today, the library offers a steadily growing program of innovative activities for children, teenagers, and adults. If you’d like to plan your stay around a specific program, check the event calendar in advance.

The small brick building at 110 E. State Street on the village square was built in Lola’s memory after her death in 1911. Potomac Church of the Nazarene moved to 206 E. State Street in Potomac in 1969. These represent two distinct local connections: a memorial dedication and a church congregation’s historic relocation.

As part of the history of education, residents of Potomac, then known as Marysville, voted in 1870 to build a one-story frame schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was later moved to South Vermilion Street. The year 1870 dates the vote; the relocation came later. The Eastern and Havana Railroad was built through Potomac in 1884.

The years mark different kinds of historical events: 1869 refers to the platting of Marysville, 1870 to the decision to build the schoolhouse, and 1884 to the railroad’s construction through Potomac. This makes it possible to distinguish the founding of the town, a building decision, and transportation infrastructure in the chronology. Together with the library’s opening in 1939 and the church’s relocation in 1969, these provide further chronological reference points and a different way to explore local history than the route to the park.

Discover more destinations: Danville

For the broader travel overview: Vermilion.