The Gunpowder River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 1, 2011 tidal inlet on the western side of

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls (often referred to locally as "Big Gunpowder Falls") and Little Gunpowder Falls.

Gunpowder Falls

The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

's York County. From there, the Gunpowder flows in a generally southeast direction through the length of

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

past the Perry Hall Mansion and the site of its former plantation until it reaches Joppatowne where it is joined by the Little Gunpowder and the Bird River, becoming simply the "Gunpowder River" once it passes the

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

train bridge that joins Chase and Joppatowne. The nearby site of old Joppa was an important deep-water seaport, and rival to the port of Baltimore, in colonial American times, until

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

of the Gunpowder River -- caused by upstream development -- made its harbor inaccessible to large ships.

Little Gunpowder Falls

Little Gunpowder Falls, as its name implies, is much smaller than the mainstem Gunpowder Falls. Throughout its length, it forms much of the boundary between eastern Baltimore County and western Harford County until it reaches the Big Gunpowder. The headquarters of the Gunpowder Falls State Park is located in Harford County along the bank of the Little Gunpowder Falls, in the historic Jerusalem Mill Village. The remainder of the boundary between Baltimore and Harford counties is formed by the Gunpowder River, the tidal

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

of the

formed by the union of Little Gunpowder Falls and the Gunpowder Falls rivers.

Recreation

Both the Gunpowder and Little Gunpowder Falls flow through hilly agricultural and forest land for much of their length. In fact, there are no less than four separate

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

s that form Gunpowder Falls State Park, the largest state park in Maryland. At two points, Gunpowder Falls is dammed to form major

reservoir A reservoir (; from French language, French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to water storage, store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a num ...

s for the

Baltimore metropolitan area The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As of the 2010 Census, t ...

: Prettyboy Reservoir and Loch Raven Reservoir. By the time the Gunpowder reaches the Bay, however, it is no longer a rural river, but a suburban river that passes under

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...

and many

bedroom communities A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for Baltimore. Nonetheless, Gunpowder State Park on the Chesapeake Bay may give one the impression that this is still a somewhat remote river. Both streams flow over the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coas ...

separating the

Piedmont Plateau The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the Eastern United States. It is situated between the Atlantic coastal plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedm ...

from the

Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

just downstream of

US Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

. This creates some class III

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and w ...

opportunities for kayakers and canoeists when the water is reasonably high.

Tributaries

*Minebank Run *Long Green Creek *Sweathouse Run *Haystack Branch *Jennifer Branch *Bean Run *Foster Branch *Taylor Creek *Broad Run

References

External links