Battenkill or Batten Kill River?

The Surprising History Behind the Name

The River Loop Trail at Hill Farm along the Battenkill or Batten Kill

If you've spent time in Southern Vermont, you've seen it spelled both ways, Battenkill and Batten Kill, often within a few miles of each other. Both spellings are accepted, but they have distinct loyalties: the U.S. Geological Survey officially records the watercourse as two words, Batten Kill, while local businesses, conservation organizations, and most Vermont residents favor the single-word form, Battenkill. Neither version is wrong.

Why "Battenkill River" Is Technically Redundant

Adding "River" to either version creates a “linguistic redundancy.” The word kill derives from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning creek, riverbed, or water channel. Saying "Battenkill River" is the equivalent of saying "Batten Creek River." Historians and anglers tend to drop "River" entirely for exactly this reason.

A Name Rooted in Dutch Colonial History

This region was originally settled as part of New Netherland. The Battenkill flows west from Vermont into New York as a tributary of the Hudson, which explains why a Vermont river bears a Dutch colonial name. Catskill, Fishkill, and Peekskill are further evidence that the Dutch left this linguistic fingerprint across the entire Hudson Valley. 

The "Batten" prefix has two competing theories of origin. The most widely accepted traces it to Bartholomew Pietersen van Hogeboom, a Dutch colonial settler who lived near the river's confluence with the Hudson in the late 1600s. Over generations of English pronunciation, "Bartholomew" contracted to "Bat," then to "Barten," and eventually to "Batten." 

A secondary theory holds that "Batten" is an interpretation of a phrase meaning "the people of the lowlands,” so, in effect, the River of the Dutch. Long before either Dutch name took hold, indigenous peoples had their own names for this water. 

What Fish Are in the Battenkill River?

As for the river's most devoted residents, the wild brown trout and native brook trout that have inhabited the Battenkill for centuries, the spelling debate appears to be of no concern whatsoever. The Battenkill is one of the few remaining wild trout fisheries in the Northeast, and its fish have more pressing matters: cold, clear water, a strong current, and an endless patience for attempting to outsmart fly fishers. Whether you call it the Batten Kill, the Battenkill, the trout will be there.