Friends of the Cacapon River

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Cacapon means healing waters according to a Native American source. If you have ever walked along it's banks, waded out to fish it's cool waters, canoed across its reaches or watched eagles soar above the cliffs at Castle Rock, the ancient meaning of the word cacapon becomes a spiritual realty.

The Friends of the Cacapon River (FCR) is a non-profit award winning watershed organization made up of volunteers and benefactors working to preserve and protect the Cacapon River and it's watershed. In the late 1980's and early 1990's the river committee evolved slowly under different names, and in 1992 officially became a 501(c)3 organization, Friends of the Cacapon River. We are dedicated to preserve and protect the Cacapon River and it's watershed., especially the lower part of the river that runs through Hampshire and Morgan Counties to it's mouth at Great Cacapon where it enters the Potomac River on its way to the Chesapeake Bay.

You can help us maintain this site and complete other projects to help protect the river by joining our organization.Print out the membership form and mail it to us with a check for the dues and a contribution if you feel led. A link to the form is in the menu to the left. We are currently collecting addresses from homeowners in Hampshire County and will attempt a mailing in sections later.

Thanks for visiting!

Anticline along the Cacapon (Steve Heninger, Cumberland MD)
The Old Bridge Near Fisher Road (Don Robinson)
Downstream from the Abandoned Bridge (Don Robinson)
The Cacapon River at Fisher Bridge, Cacapon Mt. in the background
Mountain view at Largent
Riverbank and Forest
Mountain view at Largent
Mountain View of the River at Largent
Cacapon River from a Mountaintop (Feb 2005)
Cacapon River Scene (John Robinson, Charleston SC)
Fall River Scene
Summer on the River (JR)
Autumn Along the Cacapon River
Autumn Along the Cacapon River
Autumn Along the Cacapon River
Cacapon River, with Brandon Hill, Little Mountain, Cacapon Mountain in Background" (JR)
Ice on the River" at Largent (Feb 2005)
Winter on the Cacapon
Syncline Along the Cacapon (SH)
Caudey's Castle (Castle Rock) (SH)
Cliffs Along the Cacapon
A Quiet Stretch
A Deep Quiet Stretch
Looking Downstream from above the big Largent Pool
The Crumbling Old Power Dam
Flood of 2010 sent by Mercedes Tibbets

Photos of the Cacapon River (taken by Don Robinson and others as noted)

Wishes for the Cacapon River:

May your waters run clear,
your sick fish lose their sores,
your male basses lose their eggs,
your banks hold their ground.
your eagles soar, your kingfishers swoop,
your frogs croak, your turtles thump,
your beavers gnaw and your otters slide.
And may the Friends of the Cacapon River go on forever!

Cheers from Barbara Tufty

The River has many names...
Barbara Tufty

As the early white hunters began creeping through our woodlands, and explorers began mapping our river, they began calling it by many names they heard from the Native Americans of the area.The settlers began writing the names down, spelling them phonetically as they sounded.
Here are a few of the early names:

Cackapehon (River)
Ca’capon
Ca’pon
Cacaca’pon (like a rooster!)

Then the spelling became more standard
Cap Cappen Creek
Cape Capon River
Great Cacapon River

Now we pronounce it:
Caca’pon River