A once-in-a-lifetime event happened Friday when winds from the west pushed much of the water out of the Pamlico River. There was solid ground seeing the light of day for the first time in decades, if not longer.

Local “old-timers” said they’d never seen the water so low; the numbers backed the statement up: since records have been kept, the water has never receded so far, so fast.

What was revealed in its wake was a look into the past.

The many visitors along the Washington waterfront could see the remains of the bulkhead built around Castle Island in the Civil War era. At the point of Washington Park were the many pilings of a long-ago pier that now spend nearly all of their time underwater. West of the U.S. Highway 17 Business bridge over the river, the remnants of a Civil War blockade could be seen spanning the width of the river. There were root systems exposed in front of Havens Gardens, reminders of past forests that once populated the landscape.

It’s one experience to read about Washington’s history. It’s another experience entirely to see it exposed so suddenly. But it’s there all the time, hovering just out of reach, settled just beneath the water.

Along with that rich history found in everything from old bottles casually discarded into the river long ago to pilings installed back when Washington was a major port of trade, comes something else. There are the treasures, but there is the trash, as well. And some of it can be dangerous.

If one is a recreational boater, or even occasionally gets out on the river with friends who are recreational boaters, sometimes what’s beneath the surface of the water isn’t a focal point. Many people dive or jump off of boats into the river all the time. But those forgotten pilings of a pier that didn’t exist in this lifetime, those stakes driven long ago to hold a fishing net in place, the carcasses of trees deposited in the river by past hurricanes — at times like these, when the wind is blowing hard out of the west, they can be seen for what they are: a danger.

Let them serve as a reminder. While the river has given generations of people many fun summertime adventures, what’s beneath the surface should never be forgotten — not the history, and not the danger, either.