Saw Kill (Hudson River tributary)
| Saw Kill Sawkill Creek | |
|---|---|
Saw Kill from U.S. Route 9 in Red Hook | |
Map of the Saw Kill watershed | |
| Etymology | Sawmills along banks of lower stream in 18th and 19th centuries |
| Native name | Metambesem (Algonquin) |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Region | Hudson Valley |
| County | Dutchess |
| Towns | Milan, Red Hook |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | W slope of unnamed hill near Broadview Lane |
| • location | Milan |
| • coordinates | 41°59′10″N 73°46′33″W / 41.98622°N 73.77592°W |
| • elevation | 690 ft (210 m) |
| Mouth | Hudson River at South Tivoli Bay |
• location | Red Hook |
• coordinates | 42°01′02″N 73°55′03″W / 42.017261°N 73.917367°W |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Length | 14.3 mi (23.0 km), E-W |
| Basin size | 22 sq mi (57 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Linden Avenue, Red Hook |
| • average | 32.9 cu ft/s (0.93 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Lakes Kill |
The Saw Kill is a 14.3-mile-long (23.0 km) tributary of the Hudson River, called the Metambesem by the Algonquin people of the area and sometimes called Sawkill Creek today. It rises in the town of Milan and drains a 22-square-mile (57 km2) area of northwestern Dutchess County, New York, that includes most of the town of Red Hook to the west and part of Rhinebeck to Red Hook's south.
It flows predominantly through forests and farmland. Just above its mouth, it descends more steeply through a wooded area with several waterfalls into South Tivoli Bay, between the Montgomery Place estate and Bard College, which uses the stream as both its primary water source and for disposal of its treated wastewater. In the 1840s, the owners of those properties made an agreement to prevent development along the stream, one of the earliest such conservation measures in American history.