Shellpot Creek is a

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 Delaware River in northeast

New Castle County, Delaware New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of t ...

. The stream rises between Grubb Road and Shipley Road, south of Naaman's Road at in Brandywine Hundred and flows southeast for about six miles before discharging into the Delaware River at near Edgemoor. Prior to 1938, the stream drained into the Brandywine Creek, but was subsequently redirected to the Delaware River. The watershed has a drainage area of nearly 15 square miles, and is the most suburbanized drainage area in the state-designated "

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Basin" (which consists of the watersheds of the

Christina River The Christina River is a tributary of the Delaware River, approximately 35 miles (56 km) long, in northern Delaware in the United States, also flowing through small areas of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland. Near ...

, Brandywine Creek,

Red Clay Creek Red Clay Creek is a tributary of White Clay Creek, running through southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. As of 2000, portions of the creek are under wildlife habitat protection. Course The East and West branch ...

, White Clay Creek, Naamans Creek, and Shellpot Creek). New Castle County, the Calpine Edge Moor Power Plant, the former Chemours Edge Moor plant,

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 ...

, and the City of Wilmington all discharge storm-water into Shellpot Creek. During Tropical Storm Allison (1989), the creek flooded to record levels, with the flow rising from 1,300 gallons per minute to 3.6 millions of gallons per minute (or more than 8,000 cubic feet per second). The name is likely derived from the Swedish ''Sköllpadde Fallet'' (meaning "Turtle Falls"), and has been historically known as "Schillpades", "Skilpot", and "Shilpot".

References

Rivers of Delaware Tributaries of the Delaware River Rivers of New Castle County, Delaware {{Delaware-river-stub

See also

References