The Normans Kill is a 45.4 miles (73.1 km) creek

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Capital District

Capital District

New York's Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is a region in upstate New York that generally refers to the four counties surrounding Albany, the capital of the state: Albany County, Schenectady County, Rensselaer County, and Saratoga County...

 located in Schenectady

Schenectady County, New York

Schenectady County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 154,727. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is Schenectady. The name is from a Mohawk Indian word meaning "on the other side of the...

 and Albany

Albany County, New York

Albany County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name is from the title of the Duke of York and Albany, who became James II of England . As of the 2010 census, the population was 304,204...

 counties, which flows southeasterly from its source in the town of Duanesburg

Duanesburg, New York

Duanesburg is a town in Schenectady County, New York, USA. The population was 5,808 at the 2000 census. Duanesburg is named for James Duane, who held most of it as an original land grant. The town is in the western part of the county.-History:...

 near Delanson

Delanson, New York

Delanson is a village in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 385 at the 2000 census.The Village of Delanson is in the southeast region of the Town of Duanesburg.-Geography:Delanson is located at ....

 to its mouth at the Hudson River

Hudson River

The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

 in the town of Bethlehem

Bethlehem, New York

Bethlehem is a town in Albany County, New York, USA. The population was 33,656 at the 2010 census. The town is south of Albany. Bethlehem includes the following hamlets: Delmar, Elsmere, Slingerlands, Glenmont, Selkirk, South and North Bethlehem. U.S. Route 9W passes through the town...

. The stream creates the Watervliet Reservoir in the town of Guilderland

Guilderland, New York

Guilderland is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. In the 2010 census, the town had a population of 35,303. The town is named for the Gelderland province in the Netherlands....

. The Normans Kill has a drainage area of over 170 square miles (440.3 km²), and includes portions of Schoharie County

Schoharie County, New York

As of the census of 2000, there were 31,582 people, 11,991 households and 8,177 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 15,915 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...

 along with the counties in which the Normans Kill itself flows through.

The Normans Kill has been used historically as a source of water power

Hydropower

Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

 during colonial times, during which many mills

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

 sprung up along its banks. Prior to the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

, blocks of ice were cut out of the creek for shipment to the city of New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 as a form of early refrigeration. Its name is derived from the Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 word for a Norwegian, the ethnicity of an early settler who owned mills at the mouth of the creek in the early 1600s, and the word kill

Kill (body of water)

As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....

, Dutch for creek. Earlier names of the stream include Godyns Kil, Norman's Kill, Normans Kil, and the indigenous place name Ta-wa-sen-tha, Ta-wal-sou-tha, or Tawalsontha.

Geography

The Normans Kill is over 45 miles (72.4 km) long with a basin that is over 170 mi2. The last 1 miles (1.6 km) is tidal.

History

The Normans Kill is named for Albert Andriessen Bradt

Albert Andriessen Bradt

Albert Andriessen Bradt was one of the earliest Norwegian settlers in New Netherland. In the early records he is often referred to as Albert Noorman .-Biography:...

, a Norwegian

Norwegians

Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...

 immigrant to Rensselaerswyck. The creek is named for his Norwegian (Norman) heritage. He was one of the first Scandinavians

Scandinavians

Scandinavians are a group of Germanic peoples, inhabiting Scandinavia and to a lesser extent countries associated with Scandinavia, and speaking Scandinavian languages. The group includes Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, and additionally the descendants of Scandinavian settlers such as the Icelandic...

 to the Dutch

United Netherlands

United Netherlands is an educational student-led organization that focuses on the theory and practice of international relations and diplomacy...

 colony of New Netherland

New Netherland

New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...

. He was a tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 planter and as such came to the area of the Normans Kill for that purpose. The tobacco which he planted of several years was never of any great quality, and he proceeded to construct two sawmills along the Normans Kill.

Tributaries

• Vly Creek - Vlaie
  Vlaie
  Vlaie, Vly or Fly is the Dutch vlaie, meaning a swamp. It also applies to creeks and mountains in the vicinities. The term appears in place names in areas of Dutch influence in North America, such as the Hudson Valley...
  
  meaning "swamp" in Dutch.
• Krum Kill
• Hunger Kill
  • East Branch Hunger Kill
  • Blockhouse Brook
• Bozen Kill
  • Wolf Creek
• Bonny Brook
• Indian House Creek
• I-os-co is the Native American name for a tributary of Normans Kill in Guilderland
  Guilderland, New York
  Guilderland is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. In the 2010 census, the town had a population of 35,303. The town is named for the Gelderland province in the Netherlands....
  
  , but its current name is not known.