The Williams River is a 27.0-mile (43.5 km)^[1] river in the US state of Vermont. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River. Its watershed covers 117 square miles; land use is about 80% forested and 4% agricultural, and the upper river supports wild brook trout and brown trout.^[2]

The river was named for John Williams of Deerfield, Massachusetts. He preached the first Christian sermon in what would become Vermont near the mouth of the river on March 5, 1704.^[3] His text was from Lamentations 1:18: "Hear now, all peoples, And behold my sorrow; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity."^[4] A historical marker was placed near the site of the sermon in 1912 (see photo). At the time, he and part of his congregation were captives of the French, the Mohawk and the Abenaki after the Deerfield Raid, being marched from Deerfield, MA to Quebec, Canada.^[5]

The Williams River rises in the northern part of the town of Andover and flows east through a corner of Ludlow and into Chester, where it turns southeast. The river then flows in a narrow valley near Vermont Route 103 between rolling hills into the town of Rockingham, where it joins the Connecticut River at Herricks Cove. Its major tributaries (from upriver to downriver) include Wheaton Brook, Lovejoy Brook, and Bear Brook in Andover and Ludlow. In Chester, it is joined by the Middle Branch Williams River, which starts in Windham; the tributaries of the Middle Branch include Lyman Brook, Andover Branch, and South Branch Williams River. Named tributaries in Rockingham include Wright Brook, Stearns Brook, Wiley Hill Brook, and Divoll Brook (flowing north), and Skunk Hollow Brook, Petty Brook, Brockways Mills Brook, Lillie Brook, Locke Brook, and O'Brien Brook (flowing south).^[2]^[6] The lower part of Petty Brook (in Bartonsville) was the mainstem of the river until a flood in 1869 changed its course.^[7] The Williams River watershed lies south of the Black River watershed, which includes most of Springfield, and north of the Saxtons River watershed.

In Rockingham it is crossed by the Bartonsville Covered Bridge that was washed away in Hurricane Irene in August 2011, rebuilt in 2012, and reopened in January 2013,^[7] as well as the Worrall Covered Bridge, the only 19th century covered bridge left in town. Below those bridges, it flows over Sokoki Falls, named for the local band of the Abenaki,^[8] and through Brockways Mills Gorge.

The river is a target for prospectors who can be seen panning for placer gold, south of the Town of Ludlow, near the site of the Rio Tinto open-pit talc mine.

References

^ US Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed April 1, 2011
^ ^a ^b Williams River basin summary, 2014 http://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/wsm/mapp/docs/mp_williamsriver.pdf
^ Hayes, Lyman S. 1907. History of the Town of Rockingham, Vermont: Including the Villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1753-1907, with Family Genealogies. Published by Bellows Falls, VT. Retrieved 6-12-14 at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ULmlDG8KLjYC&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA2
^ Parkman, Francis (1902). The Struggle for a Continent. Little, Brown.
^ Williams, Stephen. 1837. A Biographical Memoir of the Rev. John Williams, First Minister of Deerfield, MA. C.J.J. Ingersoll, Greenfield, MA. Retrieved 6-12-14 from https://archive.org/stream/abiographicalme00willgoog#page/n46/mode/2up
^ Geographic names Information System search page https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:1:0:::::
^ ^a ^b Bartonsville Covered Bridge History http://www.bartonsvillecoveredbridge.com/history/
^ Geographic names Information System, Sokoki Falls https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/0e37f417-aedc-5852-a71d-cb2cf66ab7b9/summary

US Geological Survey topographic maps, 1:100,000-scale series, Claremont (NH) quadrangle
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Williams River

Connecticut River watershed

Tributaries

Connecticut	Blackledge River Coginchaug River Connecticut River Duck River Eightmile River Falls River Farmington River Hockanum River Hubbard River Jeremy River Lieutenant River Mattabesset River Nepaug River Pameacha Creek Park River Pequabuck River Salmon River Scantic River
Massachusetts	Burnshirt River Chapel Brook Chicopee River Connecticut River Cranberry River Deerfield River East Brookfield River Farmington River Fall River Five Mile River Green River Hubbard River Manhan River Mill River (Northampton) Mill River (Springfield) Millers River Mirey Brook North Branch Millers River North Branch Westfield River North River Otter River Quaboag River Scantic River Seven Mile River Tarbell Brook Ware River Westfield River
New Hampshire	Ammonoosuc River Ashuelot River Blow-me-down Brook The Branch Cold River Connecticut River East Branch Mohawk River Gale River Great Brook Halls Stream Ham Branch Indian River Indian Stream Israel River Johns River Knox River Little River Little Sugar River Mascoma River Millers River Mink Brook Mirey Brook Mohawk River Nash Stream North Branch Gale River North Branch Millers River North Branch Sugar River North Branch Upper Ammonoosuc River Oliverian Brook Otter Brook Partridge Brook Perry Stream Phillips Brook Simms Stream South Branch Ashuelot River South Branch Gale River South Branch Israel River South Branch Sugar River Stocker Brook Sugar River Tarbell Brook Upper Ammonoosuc River West Branch Mohawk River West Branch Upper Ammonoosuc River Wild Ammonoosuc River Zealand River
Vermont	Black River Connecticut River Deerfield River Fall River Green River Halls Stream Leach Creek Moose River Nulhegan River Ompompanoosuc River Ottauquechee River Passumpsic River Rock River Saxtons River Utley Brook Waits River Wells River West River Whetstone Brook White River Williams River Winhall River

Lakes

Connecticut	Barkhamsted Reservoir Lake Beseck Lake Hayward Lake Pocotopaug
Massachusetts	Brooks Pond Browning Pond Lake Monomonac Quabbin Reservoir Lake Wyola
New Hampshire	Ashuelot Pond Back Lake Canaan Street Lake Cedar Pond Christine Lake Comerford Reservoir Connecticut Lakes Crystal Lake Dublin Pond Eastman Pond Echo Lake Lake Francis (Murphy Dam) Goose Pond Grafton Pond Granite Lake Lakes of the Clouds Little Sunapee Lake Mascoma Lake McIndoes Reservoir Lake Monomonac Moore Reservoir Pearly Lake Silver Lake Spofford Lake Lake Sunapee Surry Mountain Lake Lake Tarleton
Vermont	Ball Mountain Lake Comerford Reservoir Harriman Reservoir Harvey's Lake McIndoes Reservoir Moore Reservoir North Hartland Lake Lake Rescue Townshend Lake

Towns

Connecticut	Chester Cromwell Deep River East Haddam East Hampton East Hartford East Windsor Enfield Essex Glastonbury Haddam Hartford Higganum Lyme Middletown Moodus Old Lyme Old Saybrook Portland Rocky Hill South Windsor Suffield Thompsonville Wethersfield Windsor Windsor Locks
Massachusetts	Agawam Chicopee Deerfield Easthampton Gill Greenfield Hadley Hatfield Holyoke Longmeadow Millers Falls Montague Northampton Northfield South Hadley Springfield Sunderland Turners Falls West Springfield Whately
New Hampshire	Bath Charlestown Chesterfield Claremont Clarksville Colebrook Columbia Cornish Dalton Groveton Hanover Haverhill Hinsdale Lancaster Lebanon Littleton Lyme Monroe Northumberland Orford Piermont Pittsburg Plainfield Stewartstown Stratford Walpole West Lebanon Westmoreland Woodsville
Quebec	East Hereford
Vermont	Ascutney Barnet Beecher Falls Bellows Falls Bloomfield Bradford Brattleboro Brunswick Canaan Concord Dummerston Fairlee Gilman Guildhall Hartford Hartland Lemington Lunenburg Maidstone Newbury Norwich Putney Rockingham Ryegate Springfield Thetford Vernon Waterford Weathersfield Wells River Westminster White River Junction Wilder Windsor

Crossings

v t e Rivers of Vermont by drainage system
Connecticut River Watershed	Black River Connecticut River Deerfield River Fall River Green River Halls Stream Leach Creek Moose River Nulhegan River Ompompanoosuc River Ottauquechee River Passumpsic River Rock River Saxtons River Utley Brook Waits River Wells River West River Whetstone Brook White River Williams River Winhall River
Hudson River Watershed	Batten Kill Hoosic River Walloomsac River
Saint Lawrence River Watershed	Barton River Black River Brownington Branch Browns River Coaticook River Cold River Clyde River Jail Branch River Johns River Lamoille River Lemon Fair River Mad River Mettawee River Mill River Missisquoi River Otter Creek Pherrins River Poultney River Rock River Stevens Branch Tomifobia River Willoughby River Winooski River

43°20′11″N 72°40′28″W / 43.3363953°N 72.6745717°W / 43.3363953; -72.6745717

See also

References