Little Hunting Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed August 15, 2011 primarily tidal

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Datas ...

located in Fairfax County, Virginia, not to be confused with Hunting Creek farther north. A stone-arch bridge, completed in 1931, carries traffic on the

George Washington Memorial Parkway The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maintained by the National Park Servic ...

across the narrow mouth of the creek, located upriver from the mouth of the Potomac. The Washington family built its

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is ...

plantation on the Potomac River along both banks of Little Hunting Creek during colonial times. The creek is bordered by residential communities in addition to the Mount Vernon property. It is a popular location for recreational

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

, and much of the wildlife characteristic of the tidal Potomac wetlands can be spotted there.

History

At the time of

John Smith's John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s. The majority of John Smith's sales are of the nitrogenated Extra Smooth p ...

explorations of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

in the early 17th century, Little Hunting Creek was the site of a settlement of

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

from the Doeg (Dogue) tribe. By the latter part of that century, the land by Little Hunting Creek had come into the hands of

John Washington John Washington (1633–1677) was an English merchant who emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean and became a planter, soldier and politician in colonial Virginia. In addition to leading the local militia, and running his own plantations, Washi ...

, great-grandfather of George Washington. What was originally known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation eventually became known as George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. The creek separated the Mansion House Farm to the west from the River Farm to the east. In 1765, when Fairfax Parish was carved out of the existing

Truro Parish Truro Parish was the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Anglican church in colonial Virginia with jurisdiction originally over all of Fairfax County. The parish had its central church at the Truro Church and the parish was named for the parish in ...

, Little Hunting Creek marked the southeastern end of the dividing line. In 1929, a bridge was designed as a part of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, and completed in 1931. The bridge was not part of the original plans for the highway – other creeks were successfully filled in with soil to cut costs; but the Little Hunting could not be filled in, because the soil in the creek bed was very unstable. By the 1960s residential communities began to spring up on both sides of the creek. The remnants of a sewage treatment plant are situated on the eastern shore of the creek downstream of the North Branch fork.

Watershed

The headwaters of Little Hunting Creek begin in Huntley Meadows Park on the west side of

U.S. 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, makin ...

, about northwest of the Potomac River entrance to the creek. The creek is fed by three major tributaries. The South Branch (known during colonial times as Carney's Gut, after the tenant there) is located in the southeast portion of what is now the Stratford Landing neighborhood. It empties into the east side of the creek a few hundred yards northeast of the Potomac River entrance, and bifurcates southeast of Fort Hunt Elementary School into a fork heading north and a fork heading east toward

Fort Hunt Park Fort Hunt Park is a public park located in Fort Hunt, Fairfax County, Virginia. It is administered by the National Park Service as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The park preserves the remains of the eponymous Fort Hunt, portio ...

. The North Branch breaks off from the main creek in a northeasterly direction about up from the Potomac River entrance, near the northwestern end of Stratford Landing. The Paul Spring Branch breaks off about another up the North Branch in the Hollin Hall area near Sherwood Hall Lane, and continues northward along Fort Hunt Road into the Hollin Hills community and beyond.

Wildlife

Little Hunting Creek is home to wildlife. Migratory birds such as

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

s, Canada geese, great blue herons, and great egrets are common sights along the creek.

Osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s nest there, usually on top of a post in the creek.

Bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same nich ...

s have been spotted in the area.

Muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habita ...

s and the occasional

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

have been seen in Little Hunting Creek, and

groundhog The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...

s and

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

es can be found in the woods near the water. Fish such as

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

, and

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, b ...

are found in the creek. In 2004, Little Hunting Creek became one of the first places where invasive

northern snakehead The northern snakehead (''Channa argus'') is a species of snakehead fish native to China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea, ranging from the Amur River to Hainan. It has been introduced to other regions, where it is considered invasive. In ...

fish were caught near the Potomac.

Recreation

Little Hunting Creek remains navigable by canoe or kayak upstream to the North Branch fork or farther, depending on the tides. Both sides of the navigable creek border residential communities, and many homeowners maintain private boat docks for launching canoes, sailboats and other vessels into the creek and from there to the Potomac River. Nesting ospreys can often be observed from a road in the Stratford Landing neighborhood, Thomas J. Stockton Parkway, that runs alongside the creek. The creek is an excellent place for largemouth bass fishing. In 2004, a debate arose about whether the installation of duck blinds and duck hunting should be permitted on the creek. Swimming is not advised, particularly in light of drownings that have occurred in the vicinity of the stone-arch bridge.

References

External links

Little Hunting Creek, Inc.

Little Hunting Creek Watershed

from the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

Maps drawn by George Washington
i
''The Papers of George Washington'' Archive
at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

, some of which include the Little Hunting Creek area
Little Hunting Creek satellite view
from SatelliteViews.net
Mount Vernon Tide and Current Predictor
(near Little Hunting Creek), from the Wethey Lab at the University of South Carolina
Real-time water data for Piscataway Creek, Maryland
(near Little Hunting Creek), from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...