Hawtree Creek is a small saltwater creek that empties into Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay is located on the southwestern tip of Long Island in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, and the town of Hempstead, New York/hamlet of Inwood...

 in Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, 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...

. The creek separates the neighborhoods of Hamilton Beach

Hamilton Beach, Queens

Hamilton Beach, one of the oldest sections of Howard Beach, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Its boundaries are the 102nd Street Creek to the north, the IND Rockaway Line tracks and JFK Airport to the east, Hawtree Creek to the west, and Jamaica Bay to the south...

 and Howard Beach.

In the early 1900s, a canal was dug at the southern end of the creek to create Hawtree Basin. During colonial times, fishermen would build fishing shacks along its banks.

There are two Boat Clubs off Hawtree Creek

• Riley's Yacht Club
• The Howard Beach Motor Boat Club HBMBC