Bennett Creek or Bennett's Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the

Nansemond River The Nansemond River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the James River in Virginia in the United States. Virginian colonists named the river ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Bennett's Creek Park offers two free boat ramps that access the Nansemond River, a playground, tennis courts, restrooms, three covered shelters that can be reserved for use, a nature trail, open fields, a fishing and crabbing pier with handicap accessible features, and plenty of fresh air and sunshine. A canoe trail begins at the park boat ramp, passing through a tranquil

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

Otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

, raccoon, and nesting

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

are some of the wildlife viewing opportunities. The trail terminates at the confluence of the

History

Prior to the Jamestown landing, the Bennett Creek area was populated by Nansemond Indians. A series of land grants beginning June 26, 1635, handed the land around Bennett Creek to a group of

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

s led by Richard and Robert Bennett. Richard Bennett later became the first Puritan governor of Virginia after the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. His home was located on Bennett Creek; today a historical marker indicates the location. In 1637

Nansemond County Nansemond is an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony and in the Commonwealth of Virginia (after statehood) in the United States, from 1646 until 1974. It was known as Nansemond County until 1972. From ...

was formed including the Bennett Creek area. The county was first called

Upper Norfolk County {{Unreferenced, date=April 2014 Upper Norfolk County is an extinct county which was located in colonial Virginia from 1637 until 1646. In 1634, the King of England directed the formation of eight shires (or counties) in the colony of Virginia. One ...

, but in 1646 it was renamed Nansemond for the Indian tribe. In May 1779 a skirmish between Virginia militia and English troops under Gen. Edward Matthews occurred at Hargrove's Tavern near Bennett Creek. The English moved on to attack and burn Suffolk.Hargrove's Tavern
Virginia Department of Historical Resources During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, the Bennett Creek area was fortified with gun batteries. But the area was captured by

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

troops by May 1862 soon after the ironclad CSS ''Virginia'' failed to hold off the U.S. Navy at the

Battle of Hampton Roads The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and ''Virginia'' (rebuilt and renamed from the USS ''Merrimack'') or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War. It was fought over t ...

(aka Monitor-Merrimack) within sight of the mouth of Bennett Creek. Detailed historical records of the area are sparse because Nansemond County court records were destroyed in three separate fires, the earliest of which consumed the house of the court clerk in April 1734 (where the records were kept at that time), and the last on 7 February 1866.

References

*"Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia: A History of the County of Isle of Wight", John Bennett Bodie, Chicago Law Print. Co., Chicago, 1938.
Nansemond County
, Library of Virginia

External links

Friends of Bennett CreekBennett’s Creek Little League
{{authority control Rivers of Virginia Tributaries of the James River Rivers of Suffolk, Virginia

History

See also

References

External links