That got me thinking about what sort of young women she would have to start out as to have turned out to be the woman she is. That's how the story started. We had always been told that 3 nuns were in a boat that overturned and they drowned there. The boulders sprung up where that occurred. There are other stories too, but 3 women always drown.
People give it some kind of spiritual creepy tone.
People imagine there is a lot going on there. Melville used the ocean as a 'presence' in Moby Dick . Well, yes, I think so. I imagine that the Potomac has a personality. I think that rivers inspire that in the people who live nearby.