The Potomac River

The Potomac River flows southeast from West Virginia towards the Cheaseapeake Bay, the river physically dividing Virginia and Maryland before reaching the bay. In The Hesperus Prophecy, the river plays several important roles.

The spot where the Potomac River is joined by a smaller tributary, Tiber Creek, is marked by the Jefferson Pier Marker. The original (but not formally recognized) meridian of the United States, this spot is where lines drawn from the White House and Capital Building meet. In The Hesperus Prophecy, this spot also marks the original entrance to Clypeate Headquarters.

Downstream from the Tidal Basin, the US Naval Research Labs occupy the Potomac’s riverbank. Here Director Bowen privately chats with James, and later rolls his secret safe into the Potomac’s murky waters.

As the Potomac continues flowing towards the Chesapeake Bay, it passes Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home for 45 years, where he first met Hesperus and chased him down into the river.

Forty miles downstream, the Potomac is joined by Pope’s Creek, George Washington’s birthplace, and fulfillment of the Hesperus prophecy of a great man born on Papal lands.

Beyond the geographic importance of the river, The Hesperus Prophecy challenges the origin of the Potomac’s name. Historians attribute the Potomac River's name to a Native American tribe, the Algonquian, and their village along the riverbanks. Initially spelled “Patowmeck” or “Patawomeke” by the English, the name’s spelling varied until the US government standardized “Potomac” in 1931.

According to consensus history, the similarity between the word “Potomac” and Greek word for river, “Potamos”, is entirely coincidental. In The Hesperus Prophecy, we learn the Clypeate intentionally changed the origin of the river’s name to protect their headquarters, located where the Greek and Roman rivers meet at the Jefferson Pier Marker.