Last updated: October 10, 2024
Place
Information Panel: "Herring Highway"- Picnic Grove 2 South
NPS Photo/ R. Maher
Quick Facts
Location:
South side of parking area for Picnic Grove #2 South on Beach Drive
Amenities
2 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible
Located at the corner of the Picnic Grove 2 south parking area this information panel is part of the Herring Highway series.
A duplicate of the panel is located across the creek near the Peirce Mill tailrace.
Peirce Mill Dam was completed in 1906 to create a scenic waterfall on Rock Creek. Since it's construction, the dam has prevented spawning herring and other migratory and resident fish from swimming further upstream. A Denil fishway was installed in 2006 to provide fish access to the upper reaches of the creek. This fishway consists of a series of baffles inserted into a concrete channel. The channel passes between the stone walls located on the east side of the dam. The baffles act like rungs in a ladder. Now the fish can swim from level to level up and over the dam. Arrows point to the fishway entrance and exit. This fishway and the removal or alteration of other obstacles has restored the "Herring Highway," the ancestral spawning route of Blueback herring and Alewife. Peirce Mill is 4.4 miles upstream from the Potomac River.
A duplicate of the panel is located across the creek near the Peirce Mill tailrace.
Peirce Mill Dam was completed in 1906 to create a scenic waterfall on Rock Creek. Since it's construction, the dam has prevented spawning herring and other migratory and resident fish from swimming further upstream. A Denil fishway was installed in 2006 to provide fish access to the upper reaches of the creek. This fishway consists of a series of baffles inserted into a concrete channel. The channel passes between the stone walls located on the east side of the dam. The baffles act like rungs in a ladder. Now the fish can swim from level to level up and over the dam. Arrows point to the fishway entrance and exit. This fishway and the removal or alteration of other obstacles has restored the "Herring Highway," the ancestral spawning route of Blueback herring and Alewife. Peirce Mill is 4.4 miles upstream from the Potomac River.