The 25-mile Stony River flows into the North Branch of the Potomac River. In 1746, an early explorer wrote that the area was wild enough "to strike terror into any human creature."

The territory remained remote until the late 1800s, when Henry Gassaway Davis built railroads to haul out huge amounts of spruce and timber. Commercial coal mining began about the same time.

In 1965, the Mount Storm Dam was built to create a lake, used to cool a nearby power plant. The lake is a popular spot for boating and fishing.

The river was once spoiled by pollution from mine waste. Today, conservation groups are working to clean up the river and fix the environmental damage from the past.