__NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

, New York and

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine r ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, ...

with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end of the Kill, Bergen Point its western end. It is spanned by the Bayonne Bridge and is one of the most heavily traveled waterways in the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable wate ...

. Historically, it has been one of the most important channels for the commerce of the region, providing a passage for marine traffic between Upper New York Bay and the industrial towns of northeastern New Jersey. During the colonial era, it played a significant role in travel between New York and the southern

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, with passengers changing from ferries to coaches at Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth). Since the final third of the 20th century, it has provided the principal access for oceangoing

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

s to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the busiest port facility in the eastern United States, and Howland Hook Marine Terminal. The strait has required continued

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

and deepening to accommodate the passage of ever-larger ships. In many areas, the sandy bottom has been excavated down to rock and required blasting. The Bayonne Bridge's deck was raised in 2017 so that New Panamax ships could travel the Kill Van Kull. Collins Park in Bayonne is situated along the northern shore.

Etymology

Kill Van Kull translates as "channel of the pass" or "ridge". Nearby is the

Arthur Kill The Arthur Kill (sometimes referred to as the Staten Island Sound) is a tidal strait between Staten Island (also known as Richmond County), New York and Union and Middlesex counties, New Jersey. It is a major navigational channel of the Port o ...

, the name of which is an

Anglicization Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

of the Dutch ''achter kill'' meaning "back channel", referring to its location "behind" Staten Island. The name "Kill Van Kull" originated in the early 17th century, during the

Dutch colonial Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial R ...

era, when the region was part of

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva ...

. Places were named by early explorers and settlers in reference to their shape, topography, or other geographic qualities. The area around Newark Bay was called Achter Kol. The bay lies behind Bergen Hill, the emerging ridge of the Hudson Palisades which begins on Bergen Neck, the peninsula between it and the Upper New York Bay. Behind or ''achter'' the ridge was a ''col'' or ''

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migr ...

'' to the interior. '' Kill'' comes from the Middle Dutch word '' kille'' meaning creek. Compare Dordtse Kil in the Netherlands. The bay was known as Cull Bay during the British colonial era.

Gallery

Kill Van Kull BB high jeh.JPG, Western part of the Kill from the Bayonne Bridge Deepening the Kill Van Kull channel.jpg, USACE dredge brings up blasted bedrock in widening the channel. Pilot Boat NYC Harbor.jpg, Ships in Upper New York Bay wait to enter the Kill. Kill Van Kull from new Bayonne Br jeh.jpg, Eastern part of Kill Van Kull

References

Water upgrade for Kill Van Kull, ''Staten Island Advance'', May 20, 2010

''New York Daily News'' articles re: Kill Van Kull
{{authority control Bayonne, New Jersey New Netherland Straits of New Jersey Straits of Richmond County, New York Bodies of water of Staten Island Bodies of water of Hudson County, New Jersey Borders of New York (state) Borders of New Jersey Port of New York and New Jersey

Etymology

Gallery

See also

References