Swatara Creek

Swatara Creek (nicknamed the Swattie) is a 72-mile-long (116 km)tributary of the Susquehanna River in east central Pennsylvania in the United States. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains in central Schuylkill County and passes through northwest Lebanon Valley before draining into the Susquehanna at Middletown.

The name Swatara is said to derive from a Susquehannock word, Swahadowry or Schaha-dawa, which means 'where we feed on eels'.

Swatara Creek rises in the Appalachian Mountains in central Schuylkill County, north of the Sharp Mountain ridge, approximately 5 mi (8.0 km) west of Minersville. It then flows southwest in a winding course, passing south of Tremont, then cutting south through Second Mountain ridge. It passes through Swatara State Park then turns south to pass through Swatara Gap in the Blue Mountain ridge northwest of Lebanon. After emerging from the ridge it flows southwest, north of Hershey, past Hummelstown, and joins the Susquehanna at Middletown. It receives Quittapahilla Creek from the east 3 mi (4.8 km) north of Palmyra.