Woodbury Creek Watershed

The Woodbury Creek watershed is the smallest in Gloucester County, occupying 21 square miles. Two major tributaries are Hessian Run and Matthews Branch. The main channel has two branches. One of these begins in the Gardenville section of Deptford and the other starts near Glen Lake in Woodbury Heights. The branches meet to form the two-pronged Stewart Lake in Woodbury. The main channel of the creek is five miles long and is tidal up to the dam at Route 45 in Woodbury. Matthews Branch and Hessian Run are also tidal for half or more of their lengths.

Native Americans called this creek the Pescozakasing, which meant “place of black burrs,” possibly a reference to the burrs of the chestnut trees that abounded in the area. The creek and City of Woodbury derived their current name from the Wood family, English Quakers from the town of Bury who settled in the area in 1683 and who named their property with a combination of their family name and place of origin.

Five municipalities are within the Woodbury Creek watershed boundaries. They are Woodbury City, which is almost wholly within the watershed, and parts of Woodbury Heights, West Deptford Township, National Park Borough, and Deptford Township. West Deptford and National Park border the creek as it flows into the Delaware River.

Several small streams that run directly to the Delaware River are also classed by the US Geological Survey as being within the Woodbury Creek watershed, although they do not connect to the creek. These include the Little Mantua Creek, Main Ditch, and three other unnamed waterways, all of which are within West Deptford Township. Some of these streams have been channelized, or straightened, either because they served as passageways for the industry that sits beside them or to provide drainage from sites on which spoils from Delaware River dredging have been piled.

Return to the main Maps or Gloucester County Watersheds page.