Sassafras River

Sassafras River Tributary to Chesapeake Bay
A view of the Sassafras on a windy day with the northern shore in the background
The Sassafras River and its watershed is highlighted in yellow on this map of the rivers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland
Location
Country	United States
State	Maryland Delaware
Counties	Cecil (MD) Kent (MD) New Castle (DE)
Physical characteristics
Source	divide between Sassafras River and Blackbird Creek
• location	about 0.5 miles ENE of Vandyke, Delaware[1]
• coordinates	39°21′54″N 075°43′59″W / 39.36500°N 75.73306°W / 39.36500; -75.73306[2]
• elevation	80 ft (24 m)[1]
Mouth	Chesapeake Bay
• location	Betterton, Maryland[1]
• coordinates	39°23′14″N 076°03′13″W / 39.38722°N 76.05361°W / 39.38722; -76.05361[2]
• elevation	0 ft (0 m)[1]
Length	18.98 mi (30.55 km)[3]
Basin size	91.88 square miles (238.0 km2)[4]
Discharge
• location	Chesapeake Bay
• average	109.27 cu ft/s (3.094 m3/s) at mouth with Chesapeake Bay[4]
Basin features
Progression	Chesapeake Bay → Atlantic Ocean
River system	Chesapeake Bay
Tributaries
• left	Herring Branch Jacobs Creek Swantown Creek Mill Creek Dyer Creek Woodland Creek Freeman Creek Turner Creek Lloyd Creek
• right	Duffy Creek Hen Island Creek Hall Creek Back Creek Foreman Creek Cox Creek Money Creek

The Sassafras River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula in the United States. It is approximately 22 miles (35 km) long^[5] and starts in western New Castle County, Delaware, and along the boundary between Cecil County, Maryland on the north and Kent County, Maryland on the south. It rises southwest of Middletown, Delaware and ends at the Chesapeake Bay in a wide mouth between Howell Point near Betterton, Maryland and Grove Point on Grove Neck.

It is south of the Elk River and north of the Chester River. The Sassafras River is entirely within the coastal plain. Its watershed area (including the water surface) is 97 square miles (250 km²), with 83 square miles (210 km²) of land. Thus, its total watershed area is 14% water.

There are several small creeks on the northern shore of the Sassafras River, including Money Creek, Cox Creek, Foreman Creek, Back Creek, McGill Creek, Dowdel Creek, Hall Creek, and Duffy Creek. On the southern shore small creeks include Lloyd Creek, Turner's Creek, Freeman Creek, Woodland Creek, Dyer Creek, Mill Creek, Swantown Creek, Jacobs Creek, and Herring Branch.

On the 1612 John Smith map of the area, it was called the Tockwogh River.