Maury River

The Maury River is a 42.8-mile-long (68.9 km) tributary of the James River in west-central Virginia in the United States. Via the James River, it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.

The Maury flows for its entire length in Rockbridge County. It is formed near Goshen by the confluence of the Calfpasture and Little Calfpasture rivers, and flows south past Lexington and Buena Vista; between the cities it collects the South River and is paralleled by a 7-mile (11 km) rail trail. The Maury flows into the James River at Glasgow. The Maury River is named in honor of Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, and it travels past Lexington's Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute, where Commodore Maury worked in his last years. There is a memorial tablet in stone to the commodore at Goshen Pass.

The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Maury River" as the stream's name in 1968. According to the Geographic Names Information System, the stream (or sections thereof) has also been known historically as the "North River" and "Calfpasture River".

Read more about Maury River:  History, Floods, Recreation

Famous quotes containing the word river:

    We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called “Cook.” He said, “I ‘xpect we take in some water there, river so high,—never see it so high at this season. Very rough water there, but short; swamp steamboat once. Don’t paddle till I tell you, then you paddle right along.” It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted “paddle,” and we shot through without taking in a drop.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)