Holmes Run
In the foreground is a rocky shallow stream that forks into two a short ways off from the photographer. There is an island in the right fork so that it joins the left fork in two places. Beyond the banks, a grove of deciduous trees rise into blue skies.
The confluence of Holmes Run (right) and Backlick Run (left) into Cameron Run (foreground) at Ben Brenman Park, Alexandria, Virginia, 1 October 2017
Location
CountryUnited States
StateVirginia
Physical characteristics
Mouth 
 • location
Cameron Run
 • coordinates
38°48′27″N 77°06′40″W / 38.8076°N 77.1112°W / 38.8076; -77.1112
Length10.5 miles (16.9 km)
Basin features
GNIS feature ID1478779[1]
A high dam of irregular square black stone. The top of the dam is an orange primered spillway held in position by hydraulic jacks built into notches in the dam face. A spillway runs down both sides of the dam into a small rocky pond at the foot of the dam. The dam is in the forest and some trees intrude into the picture.
The masonry dam across Holmes Run that creates Barcroft Lake, Fairfax County, Virginia, 22 October 2017
Looking towards the source of Holmes Run in Dunn Loring, Virginia

Holmes Run is a stream in the Cameron Run Watershed in Northern Virginia. It runs through Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria. It is a first-order tributary of the Potomac River.

Its headwater is near the junction of I-495 and I-66. It crosses the region in a southeasterly direction for ten and a half miles until it merges with Backlick Run to form Cameron Run. Cameron Run becomes Hunting Creek and empties into the Potomac River just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

In 1913–1915 the Alexandria Water Company built a dam on Holmes Run in order to create Lake Barcroft as a potable water reservoir for Alexandria. In the early post-war era, Alexandria began to exceed the capacity of Lake Barcroft and in 1949 discontinued its use in favor of Occoquan Reservoir.

Physical description

As an urban river, Holmes Run has in places been heavily channelized, but also significant portions have been developed as urban greenspace as Holmes Run Trail.

Above Lake Barcroft its route makes up the border of West Falls Church and Annandale.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Holmes Run". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.

Bibliography

  • Bracken, Anthony; Finley, Stuart (2001). Lake Barcroft History (PDF). Falls Church, Va.: Watershed Improvement District. ISBN 0-615-11978-6.
  • Bryant, M. Margaret (April 2006). "Urban Landscape Conservation and the Role of Ecological Greenways at Local and Metropolitan Scales". Landscape and Urban Planning. 76 (1–4): 23–44. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2004.09.029.
  • Versar, Inc. (August 2007). Cameron Run Watershed Management Plan (Report). Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.
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