Nanticoke River

The Nanticoke River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula. It rises in southern Kent County, Delaware, flows through Sussex County, Delaware, and forms the boundary between Dorchester County, Maryland and Wicomico County, Maryland. The tidal river course proceeds southwest into the Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay. The river is 64.3 miles (103.5 km) long.[2] A 26-mile ecotourism water trail running along the River was set aside in July 2011 by Delaware state and federal officials, contiguous with a 37-mile water-trail extending through Maryland to the Chesapeake Bay.[3]

Nanticoke River
The Nanticoke at Vienna, Maryland
Map of the rivers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the Nanticoke and its watershed highlighted.
Location
Country	United States
States	Maryland Delaware
Region	South Atlantic States
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Middleford, Delaware
• coordinates	38°52′55″N 075°33′36″W[1]
• elevation	about 60 feet
Mouth	Chesapeake Bay
• location	Waterview, Maryland
• coordinates	38°14′00″N 075°55′29″W[1]
• elevation	sea level (0 ft.)
Length	about 63 miles[1]
Basin features
Progression	Chesapeake Bay → Atlantic Ocean
River system	Chesapeake Bay
Tributaries
• left	Kent-Sussex Line Branch, Glade Branch, Gum Branch, Gravelly Branch, Hurley Drain, Deep Creek, Morgan Branch, Gum Branch, Broad Creek, Beaverdam Branch, Cod Creek, Plum Creek, Reconow Creeek, Owens Creek, Grimes Creek, Barren Creek, Ingem Gut, Den Creek, Rewastico Creek, Quantico Creek, Wetipquin Creek, Dunn Creek, Windsor Creek
• right	White Marsh Branch, Cart Branch, Polk Branch, Birdgeville Branch, Turkey Branch, Ake Ditch, Clear Brook, Chapel Branch, Turtle Branch, Wright Creek, Gales Creek, Dennis Creek, Mill Creek, Molly Horn Creek, Marshyhope Creek, Chicone Creek, Redfin Creek, Mill Creek, Peach Orchard Creek, Wapremander Creek, Jacks Creek, Langrells Creek, Cow Creek

Some of the main tributaries that feed the Nanticoke on the west-side include: Cow Creek; Jack Creek; Wapremander Creek; Marshyhope Creek; and the east side: Gravelly Fork, Gum Branch, and Broad Creek. Notable towns and communities situated along the river include Nanticoke, Bivalve, Vienna, and Sharptown in Maryland; and further north the city of Seaford, Delaware.

According to a study paid for by the town of Vienna, the English explorer John Smith travelled up the Nanticoke River and mapped it, and visited with Native Americans in their settlement, now believed to be Vienna.[4]

The river was dredged in 1990 and 2013[5] to facilitate shipping travel along the course.[6]