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{{Short description|River in Maryland, United States}}
{{about|the river in Maryland|the river in Rhode Island|Pawtuxet River}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Use American English|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Patuxent River
| name_native =
| name_native_lang =
| name_other =
| name_etymology =
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
| image = Patuxent.River.jpg
| image_caption = Patuxent River near [[Bowie, Maryland|Bowie]]
| image_alt = A bridge over the Patuxent River
| map = Patuxent_River_Map.png
| map_size = 250
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<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 =
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = [[Maryland]]
| subdivision_type5 = Cities
|
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| length = {{convert|115|mi|km|abbr=on}}
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<!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| source1 =
| source1_location = {{convert|2.3
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|39|20|55|N|77|10|39|W|region:US-MD_type:river|display=inline}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|823|ft|abbr=on}}
| mouth = [[Chesapeake Bay]]
| mouth_location = {{convert|2
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|38|18|43|N|76|25|19|W|region:US-MD_type:river|display=
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|0|ft|abbr=on}}
| basin_size = {{convert|908|sqmi|abbr=on}}
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}}
[[Image:Patuxent preserve outside.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Patuxent Wildlife Research Center]]
The '''Patuxent River''' is a [[tributary]] of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] in the state of [[Maryland]]. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the [[Potomac River]] to the west passing through [[Washington, D.C.]], the [[Patapsco River]] to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between the two. The {{convert|908|sqmi|km2|0|adj=on}} <ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
|title=Integrated Ecological Economic Modeling of the Patuxent River Watershed, Maryland
|pages=
|author= Costanza, Robert
|display-authors=etal
|date=2002-05-01
|publisher=Ecological Monographs
|
}}</ref> Patuxent [[drainage basin|watershed]] had a rapidly growing population of 590,769 in 2000. It is the largest and longest river entirely within Maryland, and its [[drainage basin|watershed]] is the largest completely within the state.
==Geography==
The river source, {{convert|115|mi|km|0}} from the Chesapeake, is in the hills of the Maryland [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] near the intersection of four counties – [[Howard County, Maryland|Howard]], [[Frederick County, Maryland|Frederick]], [[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery]] and [[Carroll County, Maryland|Carroll]], and only {{convert|0.6|mi}} from Parr's Spring, the source of the south fork of the [[Patapsco River]]. Flowing in a generally southeastward direction, the Patuxent crosses the urbanized corridor between [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]] and [[Washington, D.C.]], and opens up into a navigable tidal [[estuary]] near the colonial seaport of [[Queen Anne, Prince George's County, Maryland|Queen Anne]] in [[Prince George's County, Maryland]], just southeast of [[Bowie, Maryland|Bowie]]
It marks the boundary between [[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery]], [[Prince George's County, Maryland|Prince George's]], [[Charles County, Maryland|Charles]] and [[Saint Mary's County, Maryland|St. Mary's]] counties on the west and [[Howard County, Maryland|Howard]], [[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel]], and [[Calvert County, Maryland|Calvert]] counties on the east.
The two largest cities in the watershed are
===Tributaries===
{{anchor|Western Branch}}The '''Little Patuxent River''', the '''Middle Patuxent River''', and the '''Western Branch''' are the three largest tributaries.
==History==
[[File:Maryland - Odenton through Patuxent - NARA - 23941157 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|View of the River, 1935]]
Native Americans have lived along the Patuxent River since at least 1100 BC.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/experiences/unearth-lost-towns-with-archaeologists
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|author=Dr. Zachary Singer
|publisher=Atlas Obscura
|
}}</ref>
The word ''Patuxent'' is derived from the [[Algonquin language]] used by the indigenous people living in the area prior to the arrival of the European settlers. Its meaning is debated. According to some sources it means "water running over loose stones"<ref>Patuxent Riverkeeper - About the river: http://paxriverkeeper.org/about-the-river/</ref> while others believe it means the "place where tobacco grows".<ref>Stein Charles Francis. 19771976. A History of Calvert County Maryland. 3d ed. Baltimore Md: Published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society. page 2</ref>
The Patuxent River was first named ("Pawtuxunt") on the detailed map resulting from the 1608 voyage upriver by [[Jamestown, Virginia]] settler [[John Smith of Jamestown|John Smith]].<ref>{{Cite book
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|publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
|year=2006
|
}}</ref>
Captain Smith got as far as the rough vicinity of the present-day Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary ([[Lyons Creek (Maryland)|Lyons Creek]]) area, {{convert|40|mi|km|-1}} from the Chesapeake near what is now the Anne Arundel–Calvert–Prince George's County tripoint.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.baygateways.net/smithstudy/SignificanceStatement.pdf
|pages= 136
|author=John S. Salmon
|date=2006-05-09
|publisher=Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network
|
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.mdoe.org/indiansoverview.html
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|year=2005
|publisher=Maryland Online Encyclopedia
|
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://johnsmith.psu.edu/code/ZVoyage2.aspx
Line 108 ⟶ 114:
|year=2006
|publisher=Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network
|
}}</ref>
This was most likely the second visit by Europeans to the Patuxent, as in June 1588 a small [[Spain|Spanish]] expedition under [[Vicente González (governor)|Vicente Gonzalez]] is believed to have anchored for the night in the Patuxent mouth.<ref>{{cite book
| last =Loker
| first =Aleck
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| location =Williamsburg, VA
| pages =108
| isbn = 1-928874-08-8}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.baygateways.net/smithstudy/SignificanceStatement.pdf
|author=John S. Salmon
|date=2006-05-09
|publisher=Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network
|
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/misc/nws83-10/chron.pdf
|author=U.S. Army Engineer Water Resources Support Center
|publisher=U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
|date=January 1983
|
|
The river was an important colonial shipping port with the government's garrison situated at the mouth of the river where [[Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore|Charles Calvert]] was first Collector in 1673.<ref>Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory. "Mattapany (18ST390)". Data from the Colonial Encounters project. [http://colonialencounters.org/SiteSummaries/MattapanySummary.aspx Colonial Encounters website] www.colonialencounters.org Retrieved 11 March 2019.</ref><ref>"Archives of Maryland Historical List Collectors, 1673-1776." Source: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al., Archives of Maryland, Historical List, new series, Vol. 1. Annapolis, MD: Maryland State Archives, 1990. [https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/html/coll.html Maryland State Archives website] Retrieved 11 March 2019.</ref> In 1699, [[Thomas Browne II|Thomas Browne]],
By the mid and late
|url=http://www.heritage.umd.edu/CHRSWeb/AssociatedProjects/chidesterreport/Chapter%20VI.htm
|title=A Historic Context for the Archaeology of Industrial Labor in the State of Maryland
|author=Robert C. Chidester
|publisher=The Center for Heritage Resource Studies, University of Maryland
|
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|url=http://www.glue.umd.edu/~gdouglas/ironores/pages/appendb.html
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|author=Peter M. Kranz
|publisher=University of Maryland
|
}}</ref>
was shipping "[[pig iron]]" downriver from the current vicinity of the 1783 [[Montpelier Mansion]], also part of Patuxent River Park.
In August 1814, Commodore [[Joshua Barney]] and his [[Chesapeake Bay Flotilla]] were trapped in the Patuxent by the [[Royal Navy|British fleet]] under Admiral Sir [[George Cockburn]].
| last =Shomette
| first =Donald
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| pages =[https://archive.org/details/shipwrecksonches0000shom/page/87 87–93]
| url =https://archive.org/details/shipwrecksonches0000shom/page/87
| isbn =0-87033-283-X
}}</ref>
| last =Ross
| first =Gen.
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| location =Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized by Google
|date=October 1814
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=tSns0IYklU4C&
|
==Economy and commerce==
[[Tobacco]] farming dominated the Patuxent's economy for the two centuries following white settlement, with about sixty percent of Maryland's tobacco coming from the Patuxent valley by the late
Destruction of the plantations by the British and of the soil by centuries of tobacco farming brought the mid and lower Patuxent valley into a period of decline that would last until the 1930s, when there were fewer residents in the Patuxent's Calvert County than there were in the 1840s, and only a few hundred more than in the first Calvert County [[census]] in 1790.
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The Patuxent was plied by regular [[steamship]] service, mostly from the Weems Line, from the 1820s to the 1920s, replacing the [[schooner]]s and sailing [[Packet (sea transport)|packets]] that had for the previous centuries served the river's many landings and docks along the {{convert|52|mi|km|0|adj=on}} tidal reach.
The [[Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission]] constructed two dams on the main branch in the mid-
With public recreational land on one or both shores of 74 of the river's 115 miles including the reservoir land, the impact that recreation in natural settings now has on the river's economy is obvious.
The Patuxent River is the sole known source for Maryland's State Gemstone, a form of agate called [[Patuxent River stone]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ereferencedesk.com/resources/state-gemstone/maryland.html | title=Maryland State Gemstone: Patuxent River Stone (Agate) }}</ref>
==Environmental concerns==
According to EcoHealth Report Cards, the Patuxent River has a below average health rating, scoring a 38%, compared to the Chesapeake's over all health rating of 54%, as of 2016. However, the river does have higher ratings in dissolved oxygen, and likely, will soon have higher ratings in phosphorus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ecoreportcard.org/report-cards/chesapeake-bay/health/|title=Health {{!}} EcoHealth Report Cards|website=EcoReportCard|language=en|access-date=2018-03-15}}</ref>
The Middle and Little Patuxent watersheds include nearly all of [[Columbia, Maryland]], including its downtown urban [[Lake Kittamaqundi]] and Wilde Lake.
"The Patuxent River has known no greater friend, advocate, and defender than [[Bernie Fowler]]."<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.chesapeakebay.net/newsbernie061407.htm
|title=Bernie Fowler Wade-in Draws Attention to Patuxent Water Quality
|publisher=Chesapeake Bay Program
|date=2007-06-14
|
}}<br>
Quote attributed to Congressman [[Steny Hoyer]].</ref> Fowler, as an early-1970s Calvert County
In 2004, Fred Tutman became the first "Riverkeeper" for the Patuxent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mdp.state.md.us/INFO/agenda_03/minutes04/june04_min.pdf |title=Summary of June 2004 Meeting Minutes |author=Patuxent River Commission |year=2004 |
Over the past 50 years, nationally recognized land preservation efforts in this part of Maryland have saved tens of thousands of acres from the Baltimore-Washington [[bedroom community]] [[urban sprawl|sprawl]]. The southern half of the U.S. Army's [[Fort Meade]] was added to the [[Patuxent Wildlife Research Center]], which, at {{convert|12300|acre|km2|0}}, is the [[List of parks in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area|second largest contiguous public park-refuge within {{convert|30|mi|km|-1}} of either Washington or Baltimore]].
[[File:Patuxent River 20201109.jpg|thumb|right|240px|
===Chesapeake Bay Week video releases, 2022===
▲In 2004 Fred Tutman became the first "Riverkeeper" for the Patuxent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mdp.state.md.us/INFO/agenda_03/minutes04/june04_min.pdf |title=Summary of June 2004 Meeting Minutes |author=Patuxent River Commission |year=2004 |accessdate=2007-12-05}}</ref> The mission of the Patuxent Riverkeeper organization, a member of the worldwide [[Waterkeeper Alliance]], is to protect and improve the quality of the river's water and watershed and provide access and education at its facility in [[Nottingham, Prince George's County, Maryland|Nottingham]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.paxriverkeeper.org/|title=Patuxent Riverkeeper – Clean water advocates serving people & communities since 2004|website=www.paxriverkeeper.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-15}}</ref>
On 20 April 2022, [[PBS]] released a 26 minute documentary: "[https://www.pbs.org/video/troubled-tributary-marylands-patuxent-river-znhvj0/ Troubled Tributary: Maryland's Patuxent River]" - ''The Patuxent River is a crucial tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Despite the central role the river has played in the history of the Bay's environmental movement and abundant conservation resources funneled to it over the years, it remains polluted. Its riverkeeper, Fred Tutman, believes that environmental injustice exists along its banks.''
On 21 April 2022, [[PBS]] released a 56 minute special: "[https://www.pbs.org/video/the-chesapeake-bay-summit-2022-jngekq/ The Chesapeake Bay Summit 2022]" - ''Experts, scientists and policy makers converge for a compelling discussion on the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, led by host Frank Sesno.''
▲Over the past 50 years, nationally recognized land preservation efforts in this part of Maryland have saved tens of thousands of acres from the Baltimore-Washington [[bedroom community]] [[urban sprawl|sprawl]]. The southern half of the U.S. Army's [[Fort Meade]] was added to the [[Patuxent Wildlife Research Center]], which, at {{convert|12300|acre|km2|0}}, is the [[List of parks in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area|second largest contiguous public park-refuge within {{convert|30|mi|km|-1}} of either Washington or Baltimore]]. It is located midway between these two cities. The contiguous public area of {{convert|8575|acre|km2|0}} centered on Jug Bay, {{convert|42|mi|km|0}} upriver from the Chesapeake, form the fifth largest such Baltimore-DC preserve and largest tidewater one and consist of the [[Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary]], the Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Jug Bay component of the Patuxent River Park. The {{convert|6600|acre|km2|0|adj=on}} Patuxent River State Park in the uppermost part of the basin is the seventh largest.
▲[[File:Patuxent River 20201109.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Air photo of the Patuxent River forming the boundary of Calvert County (foreground) and Prince George's County]]
==Bridges==
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{{Commons category}}
{{NIE Poster|year=1905|Patuxent}}
*
*[https://
*[https
<!--{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722232141/http://www.pgparks.com/Things_To_Do/Nature/Patuxent_River_Park.htm|date=July 22, 2009|title=Patuxent River Park}} active link above -->
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061007011519/http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/cbnerr/jugbay.asp Jug Bay component of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) in MD (mid-river, both shores)]▼
*[https://www.aacounty.org/locations-and-directions/jug-bay-wetlands-sanctuary Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary] in [[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel County]] (mid-river, east shore)
<!--{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416224504/http://www.aacounty.org/RecParks/parks/jugbay.cfm|date=April 16, 2008|title=Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary}} active link above -->
▲*
{{Authority control}}▼
{{Maryland waters}}
▲{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Patuxent River| ]]
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