Little Falls lies in the Potomac River about four miles upstream from Georgetown. Thomas Jefferson visited Little Falls in 1790 and again in 1802. The falls were a feature of natural history of the kind that always attracted him.

Jefferson's first visit to Little Falls occurred on September 13, 1790, when he and James Madison were determining a site for the seat of the federal government. In his memorandum book, Jefferson recorded payment to the boatmen who took their party to see the falls.^[1] One of his traveling companions described the excursion: "We traversed the whole country were joined by the different gentlemen who lived upon the confines and had at last a cavalcade of thirteen: dined at Forrest’s and after dinner went in a boat to the falls 4 miles above the town—romantic scene."^[2]

Jefferson made a second visit to Little Falls on July 21, 1802.^[3] On this occasion, he wanted to inspect the canal then under construction that would bypass the Little Falls, whose descent was about thirty-six feet in two miles. This canal was one of the main projects of the Potomac Company's effort to open the river to navigation from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland, a distance of 185 miles.

Further Sources

• Bacon-Foster, Corra. "Early Chapters in the Development of the Potomac Route to the West." Records of the Columbia Historical Society: Washington, D.C. 15 (1912): 96-322. See illustrations of Little Falls and Great Falls, opposite page 86 and opposite page 104.
• Lear, Tobias, and Andrew Ellicott. Observations on the River Potomack, the Country Adjacent, and the City of Washington. New York: Samuel Loudon and Son, 1793. See page 8.