Neshaminy Creek

River in Pennsylvania, United States

Neshaminy Creek

Neshaminy Creek in Tyler State Park

Map of Neshaminy Creek

Etymology| The place where we drink twice
Native name| Nishamening (Unami)
Location
Country| United States
State| Pennsylvania
County| Bucks
Township| New Britain
Doylestown
Warwick
Buckingham
Wrightstown
Northampton
Newtown
Middletown
Lower Southampton
Bensalem
Bristol

Borough| Chalfont
New Britain
Langhorne
Hulmeville

Physical characteristics
Source|
• coordinates| 40°16′59″N 75°12′19″W﻿ / ﻿40.28306°N 75.20528°W﻿ / 40.28306; -75.20528
• elevation| 220 feet (67 m)
Mouth|

• coordinates

| 40°4′26″N 74°54′32″W﻿ / ﻿40.07389°N 74.90889°W﻿ / 40.07389; -74.90889

• elevation

| 0 feet (0 m)
Length| 40.7 miles (65.5 km)
Basin size| 232 square miles (600 km2)
Basin features
Progression| Neshaminy Creek → Delaware River → Delaware Bay
River system| Delaware River
Landmarks| Wilma Quinlin Nature Preserve
Twin Streams Park
Lenape Bike and Hiking Path
Castle Valley Park
Central Park-Kids Castle
Bridge Point Park
Dark Hollow
Diamond Ridge Day Camp
Middle Bucks Institute of Technology
Tyler State Park
Bucks County Community College
George School
Core Creek Park
Playwicki Park
Playwicki Farm Park
Idlewood
Neshaminy State Park

Tributaries|
• left| North Branch Neshaminy Creek
Cooks Run
Mill Creek
Newtown Creek
Core Creek

• right| West Branch Neshaminy Creek
Mill Creek
Little Neshaminy Creek
Mill Creek
Slope| 5.7 feet per mile (1.08 m/km)
Map of the Neshaminy Creek Throughout Bucks County, the Neshaminy Creek runs mainly through wooded areas. Historic Bridge Valley Bridge (1804) on Neshaminy Creek, north of Hartsville.

Neshaminy Creek is a 40.7-mile-long (65.5 km)[1] stream that runs entirely through Bucks County, Pennsylvania, rising south of the borough of Chalfont, where its north and west branches join. Neshaminy Creek flows southeast toward Bristol Township and Bensalem Township to its confluence with the Delaware River.

The name "Neshaminy" originates with the Lenni Lenape and is thought to mean "place where we drink twice".[2] This phenomenon refers to a section of the creek known as the Neshaminy Palisades, where the course of the water slows and changes direction at almost a right angle, nearly forcing the water back upon itself. These palisades are located in Dark Hollow Park,[3] operated by the county, and are flanked by Warwick Township to the south and Buckingham Township to the north.[4]

## Statistics

[edit]

The watershed of the Neshaminy Creek covers an area of approximately 236 square miles (610 km2), 86 percent of which is located in Bucks County and 14 percent in Montgomery County. It is part of the greater Delaware River watershed. The creek's course runs mostly through suburban areas to the north of Philadelphia. However, the course of the creek does run through a few sections of rural and semi-rural terrain, and some forested areas remain. Neshaminy Creek passes through two state parks, Tyler State Park and Neshaminy State Park. Neshaminy Creek has the distinction of having three tributaries named Mill Creek.

## History

[edit]

The name seems to derive from the Lenape 'Nesha-men-ning', loosely meaning 'the place where we drink twice' or 'two drinking places'. Older names were written as Nishambanach (1671), Nichmink, Nishammis (1679), Nishmines (1680), Neshimineh (1682), Neshamineh (1686), Neshaminia (1688), Neshamenah (1702), and others. This may refer to two springs near a village of the Lenape, since native people drink from a spring whenever available rather than from a stream. The location of the springs is unknown, but may have been two springs extant many years ago, not far from the confluence of the north and west branches. One was known at the time as the 'Great Spring' and the other much smaller about 300 feet (91 m) away and was said to have been near an old Indian trail. The Neshaminy was the first stream in Bucks County to have been crossed by ferries and bridges.

The Gordon Gazetteer of 1832 called it the Neshaminy River and stated that "over it, there are many fine wooden and stone bridges. The bridge nearest its mouth on the road to New York is a draw bridge-in private property, erected by the Messrs. Bassonet and Johnson, whose heirs and assigns levy tolls by virtue of the Act of Assembly 6th Sept. 1785. The Neshaminy as far as Barnsleys Ford was declared a public highway by Act of 9th March, 1771."

The stream has seen a number of major floods, including after seasonal ice. In the Mina flood of 1833, most of the bridges were washed away and was the highest flood known at that time. Compared to the flood of 16–17 July 1865, the 1833 flood was exceeded by 6 feet (1.8 m), rupturing the Turk Dam and destroying almost all of the bridges downstream. As the waters reached the Delaware River, the flow was so great as to reach the New Jersey shoreline leaving a large pile of debris and preventing shipping from traversing the river. The Neshaminy has been the subject of many artists over the years.[2]

## Geology

[edit]

* Appalachian Division, Piedmont Province, Gettysburg-Newark Section

Beginning at the junction of the West Branch and North Branch Neshaminy Creeks, Neshaminy Creek begins in the Brunswick Formation, formed during the Jurassic and Triassic, which consists of mainly mudstone, shale, and siltstone. Mineralogy includes argillite and hornfels. West of Chalfont it passes into an extension of the Lockatong Formation for a short distance, back into the Brunswick, then again to the Lockatong. The Lockatong Formation was deposited during the Triassic and consists of argillite, shale, and occasionally, a layer of limestone.

East of Chalfont, the Neshaminy flows into the Stockton Formation, laid during the Triassic, consisting of arkosic sandstone, sandstone, shale, siltstone, and mudstone. It flows generally along the Stockton and Lockatong transition until the Neshaminy palisades, where it turns west, then in a few miles turns south into a region of felsic gneiss, which contains quartz, microcline, pyroxene, and biotite.

* Appalachian Division, Piedmont Province, Upland Section

After passing Oakford, it passes through a small deposit of mafic gneiss, from the Precambrian, which contains calcic plagioclase, hypersthene or augite, quartz, and hornblende.

* Appalachian Division, Piedmont Province, Lowland and Intermediate Upland Section

Next, the stream passes into the Wissahickon Formation (lower Paleozoic), a schist which has metamorphosed into a facies, containing garnet, staurolite, kyanite, and sillimanite. The Wissahickon also contains oligoclase-mica schist, hornblende and augen gneiss', and some feldspar.

It then passes through a region of Pensauken and Bridgeton Formations, from the Tertiary, but it has eroded through it to the underlying Wissahickon Formation. Both formations consist of quartz sand.

Finally, the Neshaminy passes through the Trenton gravel formation, from the Quaternary, which is sand and clay-silt where it meets the Delaware River.[5]

## Named tributaries

[edit]

*     * Mill Creek
* Pine Run
* Ironworks Creek
* Newtown Creek
* Mill Creek
* Robin Run
* Watson Creek
* Lahaska Creek
* Little Neshaminy Creek
* Park Creek
* Cooks Run
* Mill Creek
* North Branch Neshaminy Creek
* Pine Run
* West Branch Neshaminy Creek
* Reading Creek

## Adjacent municipalities

[edit]

* Bensalem Township
* Bristol Township
* Buckingham Township
* Chalfont
* Doylestown
* Doylestown Township
* Hatfield
* Hulmeville
* Ivyland
* Langhorne
* Langhorne Manor
* Lansdale
* Lower Southampton Township
* Middletown Township
* New Britain
* New Britain Township
* Newtown
* Newtown Township
* Northampton Township
* Penndel
* Plumstead Township
* Upper Southampton Township
* Warminster Township
* Warwick Township
* Wrightstown Township

## Flooding

[edit]

Like other rivers and streams, the Neshaminy Creek poses a flooding threat to neighboring areas in times of rapid downpours. The waters of the creek have been known to rise more than 10 feet (3 m) above their normal level during severe storms, such as Hurricane Floyd, which hit the area on September 16, 1999. In 2005, the Natural Resources Conservation Service earmarked $3 million for flood mitigation programs along the Neshaminy Creek. The creek was the site of significant flooding again from June 25 through July 5, 2006 during the Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006. In late August through early September 2011, Hurricane Irene, and Tropical Storm Lee (2011) rose the Neshaminy Creek to levels which had not seen before in 100 years. Repairs cost around $1 million total.

## Crossings and bridges

[edit]

[6][7]

Crossing | NBI Number | Length | Lanes | Spans | Material/Design | Built | Reconstructed | Coordinates

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Bristol Road | 7218 | 47 metres (154 ft) | 2 | 3 | Prestressed Concrete Box Beam or Girders-single or spread | 1967 |  | 40°17′5″N 75°11′17.5″W﻿ / ﻿40.28472°N 75.188194°W﻿ / 40.28472; -75.188194
Upper State Road | 7537 | 71 metres (233 ft) | 2 | 3 | Prestressed concrete Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder | 1973 |  | 40°17′21″N 75°10′43.3″W﻿ / ﻿40.28917°N 75.178694°W﻿ / 40.28917; -75.178694
U.S. Route 202 | 47700 | 160 metres (520 ft) | 2 | 4 | continuous Prestressed concrete Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder | 2012 |  | 40°16′54″N 75°10′30″W﻿ / ﻿40.28167°N 75.17500°W﻿ / 40.28167; -75.17500
Lower State Road | 46491 | 65 metres (213 ft) | 2 | 3 | continuous Prestressed concrete Box Beam or Girders - single or spread | 2012 |  | 40°17′10.3″N 75°9′38.55″W﻿ / ﻿40.286194°N 75.1607083°W﻿ / 40.286194; -75.1607083
Pennsylvania Route 611 (South Easton Road) | 7062 | 82 metres (269 ft) | 2 | 2 | Steel continuous Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder | 1963 | 1999 | 40°16′36.7″N 75°7′39.22″W﻿ / ﻿40.276861°N 75.1275611°W﻿ / 40.276861; -75.1275611
Pennsylvania Route 263 (York Road) | 6961 | 77 metres (253 ft) | 2 | 3 | continuous steel Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder | 1969 | 2017 | 40°16′32.5″N 75°5′1.9″W﻿ / ﻿40.275694°N 75.083861°W﻿ / 40.275694; -75.083861
Old York Road | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°16′34″N 75°4′59″W﻿ / ﻿40.27611°N 75.08306°W﻿ / 40.27611; -75.08306
Mill Road | 7529 | 88 metres (289 ft) | 1 | 2 | Steel Thru Truss |  |  | 40°16′9.8″N 75°4′26.8″W﻿ / ﻿40.269389°N 75.074111°W﻿ / 40.269389; -75.074111
Dark Hollow Road | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°15′26″N 75°3′26″W﻿ / ﻿40.25722°N 75.05722°W﻿ / 40.25722; -75.05722
Rushland-Jamison Road | 7328 | 69 metres (226 ft) | 2 | 5 | Concrete Tee Beam | 1947 | 2013 | 40°15′37.8″N 75°2′7″W﻿ / ﻿40.260500°N 75.03528°W﻿ / 40.260500; -75.03528
New Hope Railroad | - | - | - | - | Steel girder | 1891 | - | 40°15′18″N 75°1′56″W﻿ / ﻿40.25500°N 75.03222°W﻿ / 40.25500; -75.03222
Pennsylvania Route 232 (Second Street Pike) | 6956 | 79 metres (259 ft) | 2 | 3 | Prestressed concrete Stringer/Multi-beam or girder | 1982 |  | 40°15′3.7″N 75°0′31.7″W﻿ / ﻿40.251028°N 75.008806°W﻿ / 40.251028; -75.008806
Worthington Mill Road | 7330 | 75 metres (246 ft) | 2 | 2 | continuous Steel Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder | 1954 |  | 40°14′52″N 74°59′43.3″W﻿ / ﻿40.24778°N 74.995361°W﻿ / 40.24778; -74.995361
Schofield Ford Covered Bridge | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°14′39″N 74°58′50″W﻿ / ﻿40.24417°N 74.98056°W﻿ / 40.24417; -74.98056
Tyler State Park Main Park Road | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°13′54″N 74°58′26″W﻿ / ﻿40.23167°N 74.97389°W﻿ / 40.23167; -74.97389
Pennsylvania Route 332 (Newtown Richboro Road) | 44293 | 88 metres (289 ft) | 2 | 3 | continuous Prestressed concrete Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder | 2007 |  | 40°13′26.1″N 74°57′55.2″W﻿ / ﻿40.223917°N 74.965333°W﻿ / 40.223917; -74.965333
Pennsylvania Route 532 (Buck Road) | 7049 | 63 metres (207 ft) | 2 | 3 | Concrete Arch-deck | 1932 |  | 40°12′41.1″N 74°56′52.59″W﻿ / ﻿40.211417°N 74.9479417°W﻿ / 40.211417; -74.9479417
Bridgetown Pike | 41028 | 90 metres (300 ft) | 2 | 2 | continuous Steel Stringer or Multi-beam or Girder | 2001 |  | 40°11′21.47″N 74°55′40.6″W﻿ / ﻿40.1892972°N 74.927944°W﻿ / 40.1892972; -74.927944
Abandoned railroad | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°10′34″N 74°57′23″W﻿ / ﻿40.17611°N 74.95639°W﻿ / 40.17611; -74.95639
Norfolk Southern Railway's Morrisville Line | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°10′29″N 74°57′25″W﻿ / ﻿40.17472°N 74.95694°W﻿ / 40.17472; -74.95694
Pennsylvania Route 213 (West Maple Avenue) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°10′27″N 74°57′26″W﻿ / ﻿40.17417°N 74.95722°W﻿ / 40.17417; -74.95722
Brownsville Road | 7278 | 77 metres (253 ft) | 2 | 4 | Prestressed Concrete Box Beam or Girders-Multiple | 1956 | 1990 | 40°10′4.1″N 74°57′5.33″W﻿ / ﻿40.167806°N 74.9514806°W﻿ / 40.167806; -74.9514806
SEPTA's West Trenton Line/CSX Transportation's Trenton Subdivision | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°8′53″N 74°57′26″W﻿ / ﻿40.14806°N 74.95722°W﻿ / 40.14806; -74.95722
Old Lincoln Highway | 7257 | 98.8 metres (324 ft) | 2 | 5 | Concrete Arch-Deck | 1921 |  | 40°8′44″N 74°57′25″W﻿ / ﻿40.14556°N 74.95694°W﻿ / 40.14556; -74.95694
U.S. Route 1 (Lincoln Highway) | 6719 | 97 metres (318 ft) | 2 | 3 | Concrete Arch-Deck | 1933 | 1965 | 40°8′42.6″N 74°57′15.52″W﻿ / ﻿40.145167°N 74.9543111°W﻿ / 40.145167; -74.9543111
Pennsylvania Route 513 (Hulmeville Road) | 7041 | 89 metres (292 ft) | 3 | 3 | Prestressed concrete continuous Box Beam or Girders-single or spread | 1989 |  | 40°8′28″N 74°54′45.84″W﻿ / ﻿40.14111°N 74.9127333°W﻿ / 40.14111; -74.9127333
Interstate 276 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°7′44″N 74°54′0″W﻿ / ﻿40.12889°N 74.90000°W﻿ / 40.12889; -74.90000
New Falls Road | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°7′25″N 74°54′5″W﻿ / ﻿40.12361°N 74.90139°W﻿ / 40.12361; -74.90139
Interstate 95 (Delaware Expressway) southbound | 6854 | 181.4 metres (595 ft) | 2 | 7 | Prestressed concrete multi-beam or Girder | 1964 | 2010 | 40°6′15″N 74°54′9″W﻿ / ﻿40.10417°N 74.90250°W﻿ / 40.10417; -74.90250
Interstate 95 (Delaware Expressway) northbound | 6851 | 181.4 metres (595 ft) | 2 | 7 | Prestressed concrete multi-beam or Girder | 1964 | 2010 | 40°6′16″N 74°54′9″W﻿ / ﻿40.10444°N 74.90250°W﻿ / 40.10444; -74.90250
U.S. Route 13 (Bristol Pike) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°5′36″N 74°54′48″W﻿ / ﻿40.09333°N 74.91333°W﻿ / 40.09333; -74.91333
Amtrak's Northeast Corridor/SEPTA's Trenton Line | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°5′33″N 74°54′49″W﻿ / ﻿40.09250°N 74.91361°W﻿ / 40.09250; -74.91361
State Road | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 40°5′5″N 74°54′39″W﻿ / ﻿40.08472°N 74.91083°W﻿ / 40.08472; -74.91083

## See also

[edit]

* List of rivers of Pennsylvania
* List of rivers of the United States
* List of Delaware River tributaries
* Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company

## References

[edit]

1. ^ United States Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset. The National Map, accessed April 1, 2011
2. ^ a b MacReynolds, George, Place Names in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Doylestown, Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, PA, 1942, P1.
3. ^ "Dark Hollow Park". Visit Bucks County. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
4. ^ "About Dark Hollow Park" (PDF). Delaware Riverkeeper Network. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
5. ^ "Pennsylvania Geological Survey". PaGEODE. Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
6. ^ http://www.nationalbridges.com/ Archived October 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved October 2017.
7. ^ http://www.uglybridges.com/, retrieved October, 2017.

## Sources and external links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neshaminy Creek.

* U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
* http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/factsheets/neshaminy.html
* http://fitzpatrick.house.gov/News/DocumentPrint.aspx?DocumentID=36389
* Map of the Forks of the Neshaminy (showing the nearly right angle in the creek within Dark Hollow Park)
* Dark Hollow Park Fact Sheet

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Israel

Other|

* NARA