Powhite Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed April 1, 2011 stream rising near the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Bon Air in Chesterfield County and flowing into the

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

of Richmond in central

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 creek empties into the James River in the region of the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

, where the rapids of the James are located upstream from the head of navigation. Powhitecreek1969

The name is usually pronounced "PO-White" by area residents Korey Hughes, "Properly Pronouncing Powhite", ''Richmond Times-Dispatch''
Read Aug 28, 2016. although it is alternatively pronounced "Pow-Hite." References to Powhite Creek are included in the Vestry Book of Henrico Parish, Virginia, 1730-1773, and in Chesterfield County records of the latter time period. It is mentioned in land records as early as 1687, according to research on the Bratcher family (Margaret Bradshaw). The nearby

Powhite Parkway State Route 76 (SR 76) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Powhite Parkway (first word officially pronounced , similar to Powhatan), the state highway runs from SR 652 near Midlothian north to Interstate 195 (I-195) in R ...

of the

Richmond Metropolitan Authority The Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority is an independent authority and political subdivision which serves the Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area. Created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1966, then called the Richmond Met ...

(RMA) was named for the creek. The

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...

(Virginia State Route 76) crosses over the creek and under the Norfolk Southern Railway near the former unincorporated town of

Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

. About a mile north, the toll road crosses the river on a bridge just downstream from the mouth of the creek.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Chesterfield County, Virginia Rivers of Virginia Tributaries of the James River Rivers of Richmond, Virginia

See also

References