The Three Sisters, variously known as the Three Sisters Islands and the Three Sisters Island, are three rocky islands in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., west of the Key Bridge. They represent the farthest point navigable by larger boats.
Various legends are associated with the Three Sisters. In one, three Roman Catholic nuns drowned in the river, which spewed them back as the three islands.
Another legend tells of three Algonquian sisters who were trying to escape a pursuing chieftain and tried to swim across the river; they drowned and were turned into the rocky islets by the Great Spirit. This legend was crafted by Native Americans to warn children of the deceptively calm Potomac River currents. Yet another legend says that three daughters of the local Native American Chief were marooned on the islands by their father after rejecting their suitors.
Thereafter the point where the islands appeared was cursed: no one would ever be allowed to cross at that point and anyone who tried would perish. A strange moaning is said to come from the Potomac River when the curse is about to claim another life.
The Three Sisters are probably best known as the site of the proposed Three Sisters Bridge, which would have carried Interstate 266 across the river between the District of Columbia and Arlington County, Virginia. The highway and bridge were canceled due to community opposition in 1972.
The Islands are also integral to the plot of Breena Clarke's best-selling novel River, Cross My Heart, (ISBN 0-316-89998-4,) set in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in 1925.