Big Timber Creek Watershed

The Big Timber Creek Watershed drains an area of 63 square miles in Gloucester and Camden Counties. There are two branches of the Big Timber Creek: the North Branch and the South Branch. The North Branch begins in Berlin Borough in Camden County and flows northwest into Gloucester Township. The South Branch begins in Washington Township in Gloucester County and in lower Gloucester Township in Camden County and flows northward toward the Delaware River.

The North and South Branches of the Big Timber Creek are 10 and 11 miles long respectively and join together just below Clements Bridge Road in Deptford Township. From there, the main channel travels less than four miles before it empties into the Delaware River between Brooklawn Borough, Camden County, on the north and Westville Borough, Gloucester County, on the south. The South Branch and the main channel of the Big Timber Creek form about half of the border between Camden and Gloucester Counties. The creek is tidal up to Blackwood Lake, which is located between Washington Township in Gloucester County and Gloucester Township in Camden County.

Major tributaries of the Big Timber Creek on the Gloucester County side include Little Lebanon Branch, Bells Lake Creek, and the unnamed tributary that flows through the Lakeland complex, all flowing to the South Branch, along with Almonesson Creek and Ladd’s Branch flowing to the main channel. In Camden County, major tributaries are Otter Brook/Gravelly Run, Mason Run, and Trout Run flowing to the North Branch, and Pines Run, Holly Run, and several smaller “Branches” flowing to the South Branch. There are numerous lakes within the watershed. Major ones are Almonesson Lake, Blackwood Lake, Grenloch Lake, Nash’s Lake, and Bells Lake on the South Branch, and Laurel Lake, Clementon Lake, Bottom Lake, Pillings Lake, Silver Lake (in Clementon)and Lake Worth along the North Branch.

Originally named Timmer Kil by the Dutch (“Timmer” meaning “timber” and “kil” meaning “river”), the stream name later became “Great Timber Creek” and eventually “Big Timber Creek” to distinguish it from “Little Timber Creek.” The Little Timber Creek is a separate stream within the Big Timber Creek watershed that starts in Tavistock in Camden County and joins the Big Timber Creek between Gloucester City and Brooklawn, just before the Big Timber empties into the Delaware River.

Four municipalities in Gloucester County and seventeen in Camden County are included within the Big Timber (and Little Timber) watershed boundaries. Most of Westville Borough is within the watershed. Of the others in Gloucester County, Washington and Deptford Townships have large percentages and West Deptford Township and Woodbury City have small percentages of land within watershed boundaries.

Return to the main Maps or Gloucester County Watersheds page.