ST. JONES RIVER

The 'St. Jones River' is a river flowing to Delaware Bay in central Delaware in the United States. It is 10.5 mi (17 km) long and drains an area of 36 square miles (93 km²) on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The river is believed to have been named either for Robert Jones, an early European property owner in the region, or for "St. Jone", the Welsh spelling of St. John.
The St. Jones River flows for its entire length in east-central Kent County. According to the Geographic Names Information System, the river is considered to begin at the dam of Silver Lake in the city of Dover; Silver Lake is fed by streams known as 'Fork Branch',^[4] 'Penrose Branch',^[5] and 'Maidstone Branch'.^[6] From Silver Lake, the St. Jones River flows generally southeastwardly, along the east side of downtown Dover and past the Delaware State Capitol and the Dover Air Force Base to Bowers, where it flows into Delaware Bay, approximately 0.5 mi (1 km) north of the mouth of the Murderkill River.^[7]
The lower course of the river southeast of Dover is surrounded by brackish marshes and salt marshes, open water habitats, and wetlands. A portion of the lower river, along with nearby Blackbird Creek, have received federal protection as the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve, part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve system.^[8]

Contents

Variant names

See also

References

External links

Variant names

The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "St. Jones River" as the stream's name in 1894. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as:

★ Jones Creek

★ Joness Creek

★ Kishlen

★ Saint Jones Creek

★ Warge Kijhlen

★ Wulfs Creek

★ Wulfscreek

See also

★ List of Delaware rivers

References

1. Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve: St. Jones River National Estuarine Research Reserve System
2. Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for Bacteria and Nutrient Impairments on the St. Jones River Watershed, Delaware. United States Environmental Protection Agency
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7. DeLorme (2004). ''Maryland Delaware Atlas & Gazetteer''. p.52, p.62. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-279-X.
8. Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve National Estuarine Research Reserve System

External links

★ The St. Jones River Trail