Saw Kill is a 19.7-mile-long (31.7 km) main tributary that drains into Esopus Creek on the Hudson’s west bank.

19.7 miles (31.7 km) long, it rises in Forest Preserve lands on the lower slopes of Indian Head Mountain and, after flowing through the town of Woodstock, empties into the Esopus just above Saugerties; just north of Route 209 and just downstream of Ulster Town Hall.

There is a sedimentary delta halfway across the Esopus Creek channel in this area, which indicates high sediment loads in the Saw Kill.

[6] On January 1, 1765, William Legg bought around 100 acres of land lying on both sides of the Saw Kill for 50 schipples of wheat.

The contract also required him to pay half a bushel of wheat every year to the trustees who he bought the land from.

Gaddis, needing money to rebuild, gave permission for quarrying bluestone on the Saw Mill creek ledge.

The scenic beauty and good trout fishing in the Saw Kill and other similar creeks is part of what attracted people to the area.

Opposite the place where the Saw Kill joins the Esopus are alluvial flats with flood-plain pools, which used to be sand or gravel pits.