Quantico Creek

Coordinates: 38°32′38″N 77°17′32″W / 38.54389°N 77.29222°W / 38.54389; -77.29222

Quantico Creek is a 13.7-mile-long (22.0 km) tidal tributary of the Potomac River in eastern Prince William County, Virginia. Quantico Creek rises southeast of Independent Hill, flows through Prince William Forest Park and Dumfries and empties into the Potomac at Possum Point.

History

John Smith in 1608 reported the existence of a Doeg community called Pamacocack on the banks of this creek, as well as on the directly opposite (Maryland) side of the Potomac. This is thought to be a likely candidate for the place Henry Spelman was found living among the natives, which he reported was named "Nacottawtanke, but by our english cald [sic] Camocacocke". Early land patents spell the name of the creek variously as Quancico (1654), Quanticotte (1654, 1658), Quantecot (1657), Quanticoke (1664), Quonticutt (1665), and Quanticutt (1665).

In 1690, settler Richard Gibson erected a gristmill on Quantico Creek near what is now the town of Dumfries. Scottish settlers then established a settlement and port on the estuary of Quantico Creek downstream after the bars to Virginia's profitable tobacco trade were lifted by the Navigation Law of 1707. West of that port, the land was quickly cleared of its timber and was planted with crops such as cotton and tobacco. These cash crops were harvested and shipped out through the port of Dumfries at the head of the Quantico harbor. A customhouse and warehouse followed in 1731, and many others cropped up along the estuary by 1732. The growth of tobacco caused the area around the creek to erode, and the creek was filled with silt.