Little River is a 23.4 miles (37.7 km) tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 of Goose Creek

Goose Creek (Potomac River)

Goose Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River in Fauquier and Loudoun counties in northern Virginia. It comprises the principal drainage system for the Loudoun Valley.-Course:...

 in Fauquier

Fauquier County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 55,139 people, 19,842 households, and 15,139 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile . There were 21,046 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...

 and Loudoun

Loudoun County, Virginia

Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...

 counties in northern

Northern Virginia

Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...

 Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. Via Goose Creek, it is a tributary of the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

.

The stream rises to the east of Marshall

Marshall, Virginia

Marshall is an unincorporated village and census-designated place located in the hunt country of northwestern Fauquier County, Virginia. The population as of the 2010 Census was 1,480. Marshall was originally known as Salem. The town became Marshall after a short-lived incorporation...

 in Fauquier County and flows northwards along the western base of the Bull Run Mountains

Bull Run Mountains

The Bull Run Mountains are a mountain range of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia in the United States. Located approximately east of the main chain, across the Loudoun Valley...

 to Aldie

Aldie, Virginia

Aldie is an unincorporated village located on the John Mosby Highway between Gilbert's Corner and Middleburg in Loudoun County, Virginia. It is located in a gap between the Catoctin Mountain and Bull Run Mountain, through which the Little River flows...

, where it passes between the Bull Run Mountains and Catoctin Mountain

Catoctin Mountain

Catoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, comprises the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountains range...

. It then flows northward along the eastern slope of the latter mountain, joining Goose Creek east of Oatlands

Oatlands, Virginia

Oatlands is an unincorporated community in Loudoun County, Virginia, USA. Oatlands is located on the James Monroe Highway along Goose Creek. The central feature is Oatlands Plantation. President James Monroe's plantation, Oak Hill, is a few miles south....

.

The Little River Turnpike (present-day U.S. Route 50

U.S. Route 50

U.S. Route 50 is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California. Until 1972, when it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of the Sacramento area, it extended to San Francisco, near...

/Virginia State Route 236

Virginia State Route 236

State Route 236, also known for part of its length as Little River Turnpike, is a primary state highway in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It runs from the split of U.S. Route 29 and U.S...

) derives its name from the stream, as its western terminus was at the Little River in Aldie where it intersected the Ashby's Gap Turnpike and Snickersville Turnpike.