The Indian River is a river and estuary, approximately 15 mi (24 km) long, in Sussex County in southern Delaware in the United States.
It rises approximately 2 mi (3 km) southwest of Georgetown and flows east, past Millsboro, its head of navigation. It enters Indian River Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean south of Cape Henlopen. The lower 6 mi (10 km) of the river form a navigable tidal estuary stretching westward from Indian River Bay, which is protected from the open ocean by two sand bar peninsulas. East of the bay is its mouth, the Indian River Inlet.
The river is crossed in three places, by U.S. Route 113 (in Millsboro), Delaware Route 24/Delaware Route 30 (also in Millsboro), and Delaware Route 1 (at the Delaware Seashore State Park). The original bridge over the Indian River Inlet, which carries Delaware Route 1, was considered structurally deficient due to tidal erosion. This bridge was scheduled to be replaced in late 2011. As of January 2012, the current Indian River Inlet Bridge was opened.
Famous quotes containing the words indian and/or river:
“The Indian remarked as before, “Must have hard wood to cook moose-meat,” as if that were a maxim, and proceeded to get it. My companion cooked some in California fashion, winding a long string of the meat round a stick and slowly turning it in his hand before the fire. It was very good. But the Indian, not approving of the mode, or because he was not allowed to cook it his own way, would not taste it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“At sundown, leaving the river road awhile for shortness, we went by way of Enfield, where we stopped for the night. This, like most of the localities bearing names on this road, was a place to name which, in the midst of the unnamed and unincorporated wilderness, was to make a distinction without a difference, it seemed to me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)