Contentnea Creek

… is formed in W Wilson County by the junction of Moccasin and Turkey Creeks. It flows SE into Greene County across the county and onto the Lenoir-Pitt county line, which it follows into Neuse River. Contentnea is from the Iroquoian/Tuscarora phrase meaning "fish passing by." Formerly known as Great Contentnea Creek, it is referred to in the De Graffenried account of the founding of New Bern, 1709-10. Appears as Great Cotecktney Creek on the Collet map, 1770. Cotechney was an Indian village on the creek banks in present Greene County. Other eighteenth-century references to the stream use the name Quotankney Creek. See also Moccasin River.