Research Note: The Second Oldest River in the World?

The New River is widely accepted as the oldest river in North America and the second oldest river in the world, although there is no conclusive evidence that it is even the oldest river in the Appalachian highlands through which it flows. Promotion of the stream as the "oldest river" dates to the 1970s when politicians and preservationists used the antiquity of the river as a battle cry to block proposed damming of the stream. Recreation and tourism agencies and both scholarly and popular books and magazines have served to reinforce acceptance of the superlative age of New River.