| Muddy Kill Modder Kill | |
|---|---|
 Muddy Kill flowing through a horse farm just north ofNY 17K | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Orange |
| Town | Montgomery |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Unnamed pond off Albany Post Road |
| • coordinates | 41°34′04″N74°13′31″W / 41.56778°N 74.22528°W /41.56778; -74.22528 |
| • elevation | 400 ft (120 m) |
| Mouth | Wallkill River |
• coordinates | 41°31′35″N74°15′22″W / 41.52639°N 74.25611°W /41.52639; -74.25611 |
• elevation | 340 ft (100 m) |
Muddy Kill is a 4.2-mile-long (6.8 km)[1]tributary of theWallkill River that runs entirely through the town ofMontgomery inOrange County,New York, United States. It rises from a small pond just over a mile (1.7 km) west of the village ofWalden, flowing first southwesterly then roughly due south to empty into the Wallkill just upstream from the village ofMontgomery.
Its course takes it mostly through areas cleared for agriculture, although not all are presently cultivated. Near its mouth it passes through a largehorse farm, and then once it runs through aculvert underNY 17K it is within 102 acres (41 ha) recently acquired and developed by the town as Benedict Farm Park. It drains the low-lying Comfort Hills to the west.
The name is an English interpretation ofModderKill, as it was called by earlyDutch settlers in the region. InDutch,Modder means "mud" or "slime", so the meaning of the creek's name stayed the same.[2] The fertile lands of the creek's valley attracted many early settlers, and the houses of some, such asAbraham Dickerson,Jacob Bookstaver,Moses Mould andWilhelm Schmitt, still stand. It has been equally attractive to contemporaryreal estate developers, and to lessen environmental impacts on the stream and the Wallkillwatershed as a whole theOpen Space Institute and the town cooperated in 2005 to obtain a permanent agriculturaleasement on the 227-acre (92 ha) Zylstra Farm, one of the largest properties along the creek.[3]
With little significant woodland in its valley, the creek can rise quickly when heavy rains fall. After theApril 2007 Nor'easter, it flooded severely enough near its mouth that Route 17K had to be closed west of Montgomery for two days.[4]