Descending from the harder and older rocks of the Piedmont Plateau to the softer sediments of the Atlantic coastal plain, it is the first upstream "cataract", or barrier, to navigation encountered on the Potomac River.

[2] It may be viewed from the heavily trafficked Chain Bridge, about a half mile downstream.

Captain John Smith (1580–1631) of England was the first European to explore the Potomac as far as Little Falls.

When he arrived there in 1608 he noted that "as for deer, buffaloes, bears and turkeys, the woods do swarm with them and the soil is extremely fertile.

The local settlement of Falls Church, Virginia, which grew up there, soon followed suit.