Potomac River

Tony Shingler of Hagerstown was so dedicated to taking his boat out on the water Thursday that even his truck overheating twice didn't deter him. “We got up at 6 a.m. to go fishing and ate breakfast at Denny's at 6:30,” he said. “The truck first overheated at 7:15.” After getting his truck worked on, Shingler, 48, said it overheated again later that day. He finally got his boat on the lake at Greenbrier State Park by 1:15 p.m., taking it out with his brother, Chris. “I took a day off, so I'm fishing,” he said.

A canoe flipped over on the Potomac River and two people went into the water near the U.S. 340 bridge near Harpers Ferry on Monday morning, a dispatcher for Washington County Emergency Services said. Nobody was injured, according to a supervisor for Washington County Emergency Services. Authorities responded to the call at 9:56 a.m. The two people were rescued and the scene was cleared by 10:53 a.m., the supervisor said.

Emergency crews responded to a report of a possibly overturned canoe in the Potomac River near Sandy Hook Tuesday afternoon, but it turned out to just be a deflated raft, a Washington County emergency dispatcher said. The incident happened near the U.S. 340 overpass that crosses the river into West Virginia, the dispatcher said. While on the call, crews spotted several individuals standing on a rock nearby, and one female was suffering from an asthma attack, the dispatcher said.

The occupant of a canoe that capsized in the Potomac River on Sunday afternoon was OK, a supervisor with Washington County Emergency Services said. The man fell out of the canoe when it capsized near Lock 34, the 911 supervisor said. Lock 34 is near Harpers Ferry Road at the southern tip of Washington County. Emergency-service officials initially got a call at 1:10 p.m. Sunday about a capsized canoe in the river near U.S. 340 and Sandy Hook, and a short while later discovered the occupant had fallen out farther north, a 911 supervisor said.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will offer a winter tree-identification field trip along the C&O Canal Saturday, Feb. 18, across from Shepherdstown. State forester Herb Peddicord will lead the trip. Participants will meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of Ferry Hill Place, the old brick mansion on the Maryland side of the Potomac River that used to be the C&O Canal Park headquarters. The entrance is on Md. 34, just east of the Rumsey Bridge across the Potomac. There is no fee, and anyone with an interest is invited to attend.

A crowd of at least 3,000 turned out Sunday for the Polar Bear Plunge in the Potomac River in Williamsport, officials estimated. The colorful New Year's Day tradition, which has been a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Washington County for nine years, attracted possibly the largest turnout ever, said humane society spokesperson Katherine Cooker. “I've never seen a crowd like this, ever,” said Cooker after a cheering throng of more than 360 “polar bears” took a quick dip in the chilly water before making haste back to the north bank of the Potomac.

The battle to buy land where part of the Battle of Shepherdstown was fought in September 1862 is over. On Wednesday, John Allen, chairman of the Jefferson County Landmarks Commission, told supporters that the final $25,000 needed to complete the purchase of the 18-acre tract along the Potomac River came in just under the wire. The property was bought from Harry Blunt, a resident of New London, N.H., whose family has owned it for more than 100 years, said Martin Burke, a commission member.

A man swam 100 yards to shore Sunday night to seek help when his family's canoe tipped in the Potomac River, leaving his wife and 6-year-old daughter clinging to a rock until rescuers arrived, Potomac Valley Fire Co. Chief Eric Gray said. Gray and fire Sgt. Donald Warfield navigated a boat 25 feet from the rock, then Gray swam to the woman and child and pulled them to the rescue boat. He said the water temperature was 62 degrees, and the river is above normal stages. Maryland State Police helicopters provided a spotlight for the rescue, which started after crews were alerted at 6:12 p.m. Everyone was out of the water by 8 p.m., Gray said.

A kayaker on the Potomac River was bitten by a copperhead snake Wednesday afternoon after he took a break along the river near Berm Road, according to a Hancock Volunteer Fire Co. spokesman. After rescue crews received the call at 5:15 p.m., the kayaker was flown to Meritus Medical Center, which has anti-venom serum for snake bites, Lt. Raymond Poole said. The victim was transported by medevac helicopter because it was important to treat him as soon as possible, Poole said. The unidentified kayaker was expected to recover, Poole said.

A number of watersheds, large and small, wind their way through Jefferson County on their way to the Potomac River and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. In the next few weeks, thanks to members of the Jefferson County Water Advisory Committee and a local Boy Scout, county residents will see interpretive markers telling the stories of five of those watersheds. The watercourses singled out for recognition by the committee, with one marker each, are Blue Ridge, Evitts Run and Elk Run watersheds, plus two markers for the Town Run Watershed in Shepherdstown, W.Va.