{{Short description|Stream in Connecticut, US}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} thumb|Vintons Pond Dam on the Podunk River
The '''Podunk River''' is a stream in Hartford County, Connecticut.<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|209872}}</ref> It is a tributary to the Connecticut River.<ref name=topo>''Hartford North CT'', 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1964 (1992 rev.)</ref>
The stream headwaters arise at {{coord|41|51|09|N|72|31|31|W|display=inline}}<ref name=gnis/> at an elevation of {{convert|305|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref>''Manchester, CT'', 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1963 (1992 rev.)</ref> The stream flows to the southwest and enters the Connecticut River just northwest of East Hartford<ref name=topo/> at {{coord|41|47|08|N|72|38|37|W|type:river_region:US-CT|display=inline,title}} and an elevation of {{convert|7|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=gnis/>
The name is derived from the Algonquin words ''pod'' for ''low'' and ''unk'' for ''beyond'' or "the low land beyond" or along the Connecticut and its tributary the Podunk River where they farmed the fertile soil along the streams.<ref>Shea, Jim (January 22, 2007). [https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2007-01-22-0701220423-story.html "Proud to Be Podunk"]. ''Hartford Courant''.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Rivers of Connecticut}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Rivers of Connecticut Category:Rivers of Hartford County, Connecticut