SASSAFRAS RIVER

Contents

Overview

Boating

References

Further reading

Overview

The 'Sassafras River' is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula in the United States. It is about 20 miles long and starts in western New Castle County, Delaware, and along the boundary between Cecil County, Maryland on the north and Kent County, Maryland on the south. It rises southwest of Middletown, Delaware, and ends at the Chesapeake Bay in a wide mouth between Howell Point near Betterton, Maryland and Grove Point on Grove Neck. It is entirely within the coastal plain and quickly reaches sea level. Its watershed area (including the water surface) is 97 square miles, with 83 square miles of land. Thus, its total watershed area is 14% water.
There are several small creeks on the northern shore, including Money Creek, Cox Creek, Foreman Creek, Back Creek, McGill Creek, Dowdel Creek, Hall Creek and Duffy Creek. On the southern shore small creeks include Lloyd Creek, Turner's Creek, Freeman Creek, Woodland Creek, Dyer Creek, Mill Creek, Swantown Creek, Jacobs Creek and Herring Branch.
On the 1612 John Smith map, it was called the Tockwogh River.

Boating

The Sassafras River is home to many boats and four large marinas, all of which are located near Georgetown, MD (map). The channel, marked by buoys, is at least approximately 10 feet deep from the Chesapeake Bay Shipping Channel to Greg Neck Marina, just east of Georgetown and the drawbridge for Maryland route 213. The deepest portion of the Sassafras is just about in the middle of the river, east of the number 5 buoy on the tip of Ordinary Point. There, the depth reaches more than 50 feet. Farther upriver, the river soon becomes too shallow for even the smallest runabout or PWC (jet-ski). The water there is only suitable for kayaks or canoes.
Despite the depths of the upper Sassafras, the lower portion of the river is always buzzing with boats during the weekends. There are many small bow-riders, cruisers, sailboats of all kinds, and occasionally you will spot a large motor yacht. Most of the boats come from the marinas, but there are a number that come from private piers, most of which are on the southern side of the river. There are a number of beaches along the river where boaters can anchor and swim, or they may choose to ski or tube in one of the river's many creeks and coves where wakes can be avoided as much as possible.
Most of the piers along the river are fixed, as opposed to floating, with the exception of some of the marinas. This is because of the wakes, which can reach 2 feet on a busy day. The marinas are protected to a certain degree because of the no wake zone (where boats may not exceed 5 mph), with the exception of Gregg Neck Boat Yard which extends from buoy 12 to just east of the 213 drawbridge. Also, some of the boat owners along the river who have private piers have decided to install boat lifts to lift their boats out of the water and away from the wakes.

References

United States Geological Survey. 7.5 minute series topographic quadrangles.

★ Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Profile: Sassafras River

Further reading

★ Sassafras River Association

★ Maryland DNR's Surf Your Watershed: Sassafras River