Pope's Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data The National Map accessed August 15, 2011
tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* Tidal (album), ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* ...
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
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 ...
The following variant names have been listed on the
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...
by the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
.
*Cedar Creek
*Cedar Island Creek
*Fishing Creek
*Mister Pope's Creek
*Pope Creek
*Pope's Creek
History
Hercules Bridges, Henry Brooks, John Quigley and Nathaniel Pope were the early patentees of the Mattox Neck area (of three creeks, Mattox, Bridges, Popes) destined to become part of Westmoreland County, known as Virginia's Northern Neck, or in colonial days the "Athens of the New World".
Watershed
The mouth of Popes Creek is plugged by a flood-tide delta making it an efficient trap for sediment and enriched run-off from three primary sources: farmed watersheds consisting of broad terraces and open upland slopes, erosion of the bluffs and beaches of the Potomac, and the creek bluff erosion itself. Agriculturally derived fill deposited in adjacent ravines to a depth of 2 meters is found covering stumps from the 17th century. Beaver dams and ponds dot the flood plains as well as several old mill ponds which interrupt the flow. Historically, the navigation of the creek has been limited to shallow-draft vessels with present depth up to one meter augmented by 0.3 to 0.4 meter tide. The tributary continues to shoal as the
sea level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...
s driving Potomac silt more than a kilometer inland. Core drilling in the delta has indicated 15 meters of mollusk-bearing sediment, over peat and sand deposits dating back over 6000 years. The taking of
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...
s is abundantly evident. Aboriginal shell
midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
s were found during archeological excavations, post structure and land preparation for the Visitors’ Center at the site of George Washington’s birthplace. The 18th century refuse pit at the birthplace containing food garbage yielded shucked oyster shells as well. Fishing at the creek mouth is highlighted by the white perch run. In Captain John Smith’s explorations the fish were so thick their heads stuck out of water, prompting his men to attempt to catch them in a frying pan. The entrance to the smaller estuaries would be clogged during spring migrations including
runs. Later colonial inventories of the Popes Creek plantation list seine corks, lead, seine rope, a knot of perch lines, yielding to the more than adequate kitchen utensil, or fish kettle, serving up the local delicacy.
In June, July, and August 2007, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality reported a large
fish kill
The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...
Colonial Beach
Colonial Beach, Virginia (CBVA) is a river and beach town located in the northwestern part of Westmoreland County on Virginia's Northern Neck peninsula. It is bounded by the Potomac River, Monroe Bay and Monroe Creek. It is located from Washingt ...
(the closest town) to
Mattox Creek
Mattox Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River in the Washington District of Westmoreland County, Virginia, near the colonial stagecoach stop of Oak Grove. The creek is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution ...
to Muses Beach (Popes Creek) to
Stratford Hall Plantation
Stratford Hall is a historic house museum near Lerty in Westmoreland County, Virginia. It was the plantation house of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia (with descendants later to expand to Maryland and other states). Stratford Hal ...
on the Potomac River. Early reports of dead fish on June 18, enumerating species involved, estimated hundreds of
hogchoker
The hogchoker (''Trinectes maculatus'') is a small flatfish found along the Atlantic coast of North America, ranging from Massachusetts and Florida to Panama. They prefer brackish water, and are abundant in many bays and estuaries north of the Ca ...
at Muses Beach and hundreds of gizzard shad at Stratford Hall. The highest concentration of the characteristic reddish-brown toxin was located below the mouth of Mattox Creek on July 17. The number of fish killed at Mattox Creek was 296,000 with approximately 56 percent young
menhaden
Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera ''Brevoortia'' and ''Ethmidium'', two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. ''Menhaden'' is a blend of ''poghaden'' ...
, 30 percent white perch, and 12 percent croaker. Other species seen in the kill were gizzard shad, mummichog, white and
channel catfish
The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...
, young
American eel
The American eel (''Anguilla rostrata'') is a facultative catadromous fish found on the eastern coast of North America. Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the elopomorph superorder, a group of phylogenetically ancient teleosts. The America ...
, hogchoker,
largemouth bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...
and
blue crabs Blue crab may refer to:
* Blue Crab 11, an American sailboat design
* ''Callinectes sapidus'' – Chesapeake or Atlantic blue crab of the West Atlantic, introduced elsewhere
* ''Cardisoma guanhumi'' – blue land crab of the West Atlantic
* '' Disc ...
List of Virginia rivers
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Virginia.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries, arranged in the order of their confluence from mouth to source, indented under each larger stream's nam ...