River Wye given a Latin name "Vaga", an adjective meaning 'wandering'. The Tithe map references a Vagas Field in both Whitchurch and Chepstow. Philologists such as Edward Lye and Joseph Bosworth in the 18th and early 19th centuries suggested an Old English derivation from "wæg", "wave". The source of the Wye is in the Welsh mountains at Plynlimon. It flows through or past several towns and villages including Rhayader, Builth Wells, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford (the only city on the River Wye), Ross-on-Wye, Symonds Yat, Monmouth and Tintern, meeting the Severn estuary just below Chepstow. Its total length is . The lower of the
Aspen Institute Wye River Conference Centers section - Wye Woods - is now closed and is being offered for sale.) In 1995 the Conference Center was the site for negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Authority which resulted in the Wye River Memorandum. Since 1998, the Wye River Group on Healthcare has conducted policy meetings on retreat there. Elián González and his father stayed there briefly in 2000. Beginning in September 2008, and meeting quarterly through December 2009, The Aspen Philanthropy Seminar–Washington, DC, convened a small group of philanthropists at the Center. The River House facility was originally developed in 1987 as a specialized high-tech conference