Near a historic quarry, volunteers carve their niche

Green Aquia spearheads restoration and citizen science efforts near the Potomac

In 1791, a small island on Aquia Creek in Stafford County, Virginia, began sending its warm-colored sandstone downstream to the Potomac River, where schooners and sloops would haul it upstream to Washington, D.C. The stone, well-suited for intricate carving, was destined to be part of the White House, the Capitol Building and many other landmarks of our nation’s capital. Unused since the 1800s, Public Quarry at Government Island is now a historic nature preserve on the National Registry of Historic Places. Nearby, Green Aquia is an environmental club in Aquia Harbour, Virginia, that monitors water quality monthly along Austin Run and Aquia Creek, which flows into the Potomac River. The monitoring pointed them to an E. coli problem in Austin Run, and the group has worked to fix the problem.

Video Credits

Produced by

Will Parson

Music:

"Heather" by Blue Dot Sessions via Free Music Archive

Special thanks to

Andrea Black