The Shallotte River (pronounced shallOtte) is a

tidal river A tidal river is a river whose flow and level are influenced by tides. A section of a larger river affected by the tides is a tidal reach, but it may sometimes be considered a tidal river if it has been given a separate name. Generally, tidal ri ...

in Brunswick County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, United States. Waters drain from the tributaries of the Green Swamp near the town of

Shallotte Shallotte is a town in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,675 at the 2010 census. The Shallotte River passes through the town. History Shallotte was incorporated as a town in 1899. A former Hardee's resta ...

and flow south down the river to empty into the

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

. Approximately one mile southwest of the river's mouth lies the Shallotte Inlet which connects the Intracostal Waterway to Long Bay of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The inlet separates Holden Beach Isle from Ocean Isle and was the actual mouth of the Shallotte River prior to the Intracoastal Waterway's construction and decades of shifting sands.

Name origin

The "Shallotte River" name dates back to at least 1734. According to some accounts, the waterway was once known as the "Charlotte River", a name coined by a traveler who crossed it by ferry. Over time the word Charlotte morphed into Shallotte.Town of Shallotte: Welcome to Shallotte
/ref> Another explanation is the river was so named on account of there being wild

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...

s along its course.

References

Rivers of Brunswick County, North Carolina Rivers of North Carolina Inlets of North Carolina {{BrunswickCountyNC-geo-stub