Navesink River
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The Navesink River is an
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
, approximately 8 mi (12 km) long in Monmouth County,
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 Delaware ...
, United States. It is surrounded by the communities of Middletown, Red Bank, Fair Haven and
Rumson Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 7,343, reflecting a 3.1% increase from the 7,122 enumera ...
. Known officially as the North Shrewsbury River and upstream of Red Bank as the
Swimming River The Swimming River is an estuary and the name of the Navesink River upstream of Red Bank in Colts Neck Township and Middletown Township, located in Monmouth County, New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Sen ...
, it is formed southwest of Red Bank by the confluence of the Swimming River with several smaller streams. It extends ENE along the north side of Red Bank, connecting to the
Shrewsbury River The Shrewsbury River is a short stream and navigable estuary. The stream is approximately 8 mi (13 km) long and is located in Central New Jersey. It extends east-northeast from its head of navigation at Oceanport to its confluence with ...
estuary at Rumson, approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) south of the entrance of the
Shrewsbury River The Shrewsbury River is a short stream and navigable estuary. The stream is approximately 8 mi (13 km) long and is located in Central New Jersey. It extends east-northeast from its head of navigation at Oceanport to its confluence with ...
into
Sandy Hook Bay The Raritan Bayshore region of New Jersey is a subregion of the larger Jersey Shore. It is the area around Raritan Bay from The Amboys to Sandy Hook, in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, including the towns of Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, South Amboy, ...
near
Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...
.


History

The area was originally populated by the Lenni
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
Indians. In 1665, John Hance was one of the settlers who negotiated with the Navesink Indians of the Lenni Lenape Tribe to purchase the lands of this peninsula and the immediate surroundings through the Monmouth Patent. Following the founding of Red Bank in 1736 (named after its situation on the "red banks" of the Navesink River), the river was important for transportation from the Navesink River communities to New York City and was served by side-wheeler steamboats until the 1950s.


The Navesink today

Today the river is a major recreational resource for powerboating, crabbing, fishing, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, bird watching, swimming and rowing. During particularly cold winters, the Navesink can freeze, adding ice skating and ice boating to the list of recreations available. The area along the Navesink banks is one of the most affluent in New Jersey. Today, the town of Red Bank rests situated on its banks, with hotels and apartment buildings that offer scenic views of the river. Select homes in Red Bank, Fair Haven, and Rumson share similar views. As a tidal estuary flowing into the Shrewbury River at Sea Bright, continuing into Sandy Hook Bay and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean, the Navesink provides excellent and scenic fishing opportunities for species such as
bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...
(smaller bluefish are known as snappers),
striped bass The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has al ...
,
weakfish The weakfish, ''Cynoscion regalis'', is a marine fish of the drum family Sciaenidae. A medium-large, slender, marine fish, it is found along the east coast of North America. The head and back of this fish are dark brown in color with a greenish t ...
and
fluke Fluke may refer to: Biology * Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish * Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...
,
blackfish Blackfish is a common name for the following species of fish, dolphins, and whales: Fish * Alaska blackfish, (''Dallia pectoralis''), an Esocidae from Alaska, Siberia and the Bering Sea islands * Black fish (''Carassioides acuminatus'') a cyprin ...
,
pufferfish Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...
, kingfish,
spot Spot or SPOT may refer to: Places * Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States * The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia * South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse People * Spot (produ ...
especially in the spring and fall. Crabbing is particularly popular in the upstream Swimming River section.


Independence Day fireworks

Each year from 1960 through 2011, a fireworks display was launched from the river close to Red Bank on July 3, the eve of
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
. "KaBoomFest" was held in Marine Park, where local bands and vendors formed a major gathering.


Dolphins

The Navesink River was the home to a pod of up to 16 Atlantic
Bottlenose Dolphin Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...
s from June 2008 into the winter of that year. They are thought to have followed a school of baitfish from the Sandy Hook Bay. The dolphins attracted nearby residents to view them, as well as media attention. Local authorities enforced a requirement on marine traffic to maintain a safe distance from the pod, and even issued tickets to boats that were deemed hazardous to the dolphins' safety. In late September 2008, one of the dolphins had been found washed up on the shore, and it was determined that its cause of death was pneumonia. Several days later, another was found floating down the river. Another group of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins reappeared in August 2012 near the Oceanic Bridge.


See also

* Starvation Island *
List of New Jersey rivers This is a list of streams and rivers of the U.S. state of New Jersey. List of New Jersey rivers includes streams formally designated as rivers. There are also smaller streams (''i.e.,'' branches, creeks, drains, forks, licks, runs, etc.) in the ...


References


Further reading

* {{authority control Rivers of Monmouth County, New Jersey Rivers of New Jersey