From the National Park Service's Geodiversity Atlas.
George Washington Birthplace National Monument lies on the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Established on January 23, 1930, it protects about 267 hectares (662 acres), including:
- the foundation of the house where Washington was born;
- archeological remains of its outbuildings;
- a commemorative colonial revival plantation;
- the family burial ground.
Visitors can hike, picnic, fish, cycle and ride horses, explore the historic sites, or visit the Potomac River beach.
A historic house at George Washington Birthplace National Monument. NPS.
The rocks
Like the rest of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the monument sits on young, fairly flat-lying layers that are loose or only partly hardened.
| Age | Where |
|---|---|
| Miocene, about 11 million years old | the oldest exposures, formations of the Chesapeake Group along the mouth of Pope's Creek and the Potomac riverbank |
| Pleistocene, about 13,000 years old | the Tabb Alloformation and its members, beneath most of the monument |
| Recent | salt marsh, swamp, beach and river deposits at Longwood Swamp, Digwood Swamp and Dancing Marsh |
The monument shares its geologic history, and some of its formations, with the wider Coastal Plain province, which extends well beyond its boundaries.
Fossils
As in every park, fossils at the monument are protected under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009.
Maps and reports
The National Park Service's Geologic Resources Inventory has produced a digital geologic map and a report for the monument, and a Soil Resources Inventory has been completed; both are on the NPS DataStore.
The Geologic Resources Inventory's map of the monument. NPS.
Sources
- National Park Service, "NPS Geodiversity Atlas—George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Virginia." https://www.nps.gov/articles/nps-geodiversity-atlas-george-washington-birthplace-national-monument-virginia.htm — which cites Anderson (2017), Rader and Evans (1993), Thornberry-Ehrlich (2009) and Ward and Blackwelder (1980).
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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