Shallotte River

The Shallotte River is a tidal river in Brunswick County, North Carolina.{{Cite web |title=Shallotte River |url=https://www.capefear-nc.com/shallotte-river.html |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=Capefear-NC.com |language=en-us}} Its waters drain from the tributaries of the Green Swamp near the town of Shallotte, flowing south for approximately nine miles to empty into the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=px40AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Shallotte%20River%22%20-wikipedia |title=Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly Rivers Maintenance: Environmental Impact Statement |date=December 1975 |publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |pages=iv-v |language=en |via=Google Books}} In addition to the Green Swamp, its river basin also includes farmland, forests, and semi-developed rural area.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=px40AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Shallotte%20River%22%20-wikipedia |title=Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly Rivers Maintenance: Environmental Impact Statement |date=December 1975 |publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |page=5 |language=en |via=Google Books}}

Approximately one-mile southwest of the river's mouth lies the Shallotte Inlet which connects the Intracostal Waterway to Long Bay of the Atlantic Ocean. The inlet separates Holden Beach Isle from Ocean Islef; this mouth of the Shallotte River before the Intracoastal Waterway's construction and decades of shifting sands. It also runs past Sunset Beach.

The Shallotte River is heavily influenced by ocean tides, making its channel difficult to navigate. Its mouth is a wave intensive area. Waves and tides frequently move its bottom sediments which consists of course and medium sand, with traces of shell fragments. The river was dredged in 1929 for the first time, and again between 1966 and 1969.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=px40AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Shallotte%20River%22%20-wikipedia |title=Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly Rivers Maintenance: Environmental Impact Statement |date=December 1975 |publisher=United States. Army. Corps of Engineers |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |pages=9 and 13 |language=en |via=Newspapers.com}} In the 1970s, the United States Army Corps of Engineers determined that 30,000 cubic yards had to be dredged every two years to maintains the river's channel. Its depth over the sandbar was {{Convert|4|ft|m}} 1983, making it accessible only to outboard motor boards.{{Cite book |last=Griffes |first=Peter L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_YdXeXuVMRgC&dq=%22Shallotte+River%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA426 |title=2002 Navigation Rules -Boating Almanac: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia |date=2001 |publisher=ProStar Publications |isbn=978-1-57785-503-3 |page=426 |language=en |via=Google Books}} This made the depth at the inlet 4.6 inches and 3 feet at Shallott.

The Shallotte River name dates back to at least 1734. According to some accounts, the waterway was once known as the "Charlotte River", a name coined by a traveler who crossed it by ferry. Over time the word Charlotte morphed into Shallotte.[http://www.townofshallotte.org/index.asp?Type=NONE&SEC={A2A8AD69-2DA7-485A-8DCD-0E86186A15DE}&DE= Town of Shallotte: Welcome to Shallotte] Another explanation is the river was so named on account of there being wild shallots along its course.{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lNpOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oh4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3992%2C5078290 | title=Shallotte | work=Star-News | date=May 24, 1998 | accessdate=1 November 2015 | pages=34}}

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Category:Rivers of Brunswick County, North Carolina

Category:Rivers of North Carolina

Category:Inlets of North Carolina