Bass River is an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

and

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in South Yarmouth,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The estuary separates the towns of

Yarmouth Yarmouth may refer to: Places Canada *Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia **Yarmouth, Nova Scotia **Municipality of the District of Yarmouth **Yarmouth (provincial electoral district) **Yarmouth (electoral district) * Yarmouth Township, Ontario *New ...

and

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

at the central, southern sections of the towns. At its widest and most southerly point, it opens to and meets

Nantucket Sound Nantucket Sound_(geography), Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on ...

. Its brackish, northwestern end flows into Follins Pond, from there winding further north as a

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

, to Mill Pond then an

underground stream A subterranean river is a river that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground surface – one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth. It is distinct from an aquifer, which may flow like a river but is contained within a per ...

that nearly bisects

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. The mouth of the river is between Smugglers Beach on the Yarmouth side and West Dennis Beach on the Dennis side. West Dennis beach has become a popular site for

kite boarding Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

in the past few years. In the same way, Kalmus Beach in Hyannis has become popular for

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. Once inside the river, there is a large land mass covered with

sea grass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

, in the middle of which is a large

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

. The island is called 'Marsh Island' by the locals. Marsh Island separates Bass River into two parts. The right side of the river, which is referred to as the 'Old Field Channel', goes towards West Dennis and the Fingers development. The left side is the main channel of the river, passing Windmill Beach, Bass River Yacht Club, Ship Shops Marina and the prestigious Bass River Marina and Yacht Club. After the marina, the river goes under the Route 28 bridge and winds five more miles deep into the cape. Bass River was once considered a viable location for a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

traversing Cape Cod, and is the largest river the

Mid-Cape Highway U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in Massachusetts is a long portion of the cross-country route connecting Providence, Rhode Island to Fall River, New Bedford, and Cape Cod. In the Fall River and New Bedford areas, US 6 parallels Interstate 195. O ...

spans. Bass River is home to a friendly rivalry between West Dennis Yacht Club and the Bass River Yacht Club. These clubs also compete against Hyannis Yacht Club, Wianno Yacht Club, and others in the Southern Massachusetts Sailing Association team racing circuit. The Yarmouth shores are home to Bass River Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the town of Yarmouth. There is another Bass River in the city of Beverly.

References

{{authority control Estuaries of Massachusetts Rivers of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Estuaries of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Villages in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Villages in Massachusetts Rivers of Massachusetts