The Mispillion River is a river flowing to

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States, lying between the states of Delaware and New Jersey. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltw ...

in southern

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

in the

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. It is approximately long and drains an area of on the

Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It rises in northern Sussex County, approximately southwest of Milford, and flows generally east-northeastwardly, defining the boundary between Sussex and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

counties; it passes through the center of Milford on its course to its mouth at Delaware Bay, northwest of Cape Henlopen.

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(2004). ''Maryland Delaware Atlas & Gazetteer''. pp.52-53. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. . The lower of the river are considered by the

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to be

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Navigability is also referred to in the broader context of a body of water having sufficient under ...

. A

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway typically built with wooden planks, which functions as a type of low water bridge or small viaduct that enables pedestrians to ...

known as the Mispillion Riverwalk follows the river in Milford. , an effort was underway to preserve a greenway along the river upstream and downstream of Milford.

Variant names and spellings

According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

, the Mispillion River has also been known historically as:

Name origin

"The first occurrence of this name (of the river) is in the form Mispening on a map of 1664, tentatively analyzed as meaning "as the great tuber (stream);" (Dunlap and Weslager, 1950)

References

{{authority control Rivers of Delaware Rivers of Sussex County, Delaware Rivers of Kent County, Delaware Tributaries of Delaware Bay

Variant names and spellings

Name origin

See also

References