- left Hunger Kill, Krum Kill - elevation 0 ft (0 m) | - right Bozen Kill, Vly Creek - average 150 cu ft/s (4 m/s) | |
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- location Duanesburg, near Delanson, Schenectady County, New York - location Bethlehem, Albany County, New York | ||
The Normans Kill is a 45.4-mile-long (73.1 km) creek in New York's Capital District located in Schenectady and Albany counties. It flows southeasterly from its source in the town of Duanesburg near Delanson to its mouth at the Hudson River in the town of Bethlehem. In the town of Guilderland, the stream is dammed to create the Watervliet Reservoir, a drinking water source for the city of Watervliet and the Town of Guilderland. A one megawatt hydrolectric plant at the dam provides power to pump water to the filtration plant.
Contents
The Normans Kill has a drainage area of over 170 square miles (440 km2), and includes portions of Schoharie County along with the counties in which the Normans Kill itself flows through.
The Normans Kill has been used historically as a source of water power during colonial times, during which many mills sprung up along its banks. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, blocks of ice were cut out of the creek for shipment to the city of New York as a form of early refrigeration. Its name is derived from the Dutch word for a Norwegian, the ethnicity of Albert Andriessen Bradt(more accurately spelled "Bratt"), an early settler who owned mills at the mouth of the creek in the early 17th century, and the word kill, Dutch for creek. Earlier names of the stream include Godyns Kil, Norman's Kill, Normans Kil, and the indigenous place name Ta-wa-sen-tha, Ta-wal-sou-tha, or Tawalsontha.
Geography
The Normans Kill is over 45 miles (72 km) long with a basin that is over 170 square miles (440 km2). The last 1-mile (1.6 km) is tidal.
History
Originally called "Tawasentha" (a place of the many dead), the Normans Kill is named for Albert Andriessen Bradt, a Norwegian immigrant to Rensselaerswyck. The creek is named for his Norwegian (Norman) heritage. He was one of the first Scandinavians to the Dutch colony of New Netherland. He was a tobacco planter and as such came to the area of the Normans Kill for that purpose. The tobacco which he planted of several years was never of any great quality, and he proceeded to construct two sawmills along the Normans Kill.