Mantua Creek is a stream

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 Mantua Township

Mantua Township, New Jersey

Mantua Township is a township in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 14,217....

, Gloucester County

Gloucester County, New Jersey

Gloucester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 288,288. Its county seat is Woodbury....

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 with headwaters near Glassboro

Glassboro, New Jersey

Glassboro is a borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 19,068....

, which flows northwest for 18.6 miles (29.9 kilometers) to the Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...

 at Paulsboro

Paulsboro, New Jersey

Paulsboro is a Borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 6,097....

 across from present-day Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport is a major airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the largest airport in the Delaware Valley region and in Pennsylvania...

. The name Mantua Creek is derived from the Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 word “Manta”, meaning frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

, and was so named because of the remarkable chorus effect

Chorus effect

In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...

 produced by abundant frogs in its watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

. Mantua Creek and its two major tributaries, Edwards Run

Edwards Run

Edwards Run is a tributary stream of the Cacapon River, belonging to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. The stream is located in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. Edwards Run is named for Joseph Edwards and his family, whose plantation...

 and Chestnut Branch drain over 50 square miles (129.5 km²) of Gloucester County.

History

Early human settlement along Mantua Creek dates back to the Lenni-Lenape Native Americans who exploited its abundance of fish and game and utilized the creeks for transportation. Early European

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 settlers also used the creek for transportation, and constructed saw mills and grist mills on the creek and its streams, encouraging flood plain development for agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

.