nature grapevine ’s · the delaware has its headwaters in the western sec-tions of the catskills....

The Delaware, My River

byWayne Henderek

love the Delaware River. It has fi gured prominently into my family’s life. We have often swum in the Delaware. We have fi shed it. We have canoed it. We have power boated and jet skied it. We have camped on it. We have biked and skied along it. We have tubed the river. We

have hiked the hills, palisades and mountains that defi ne the Delaware’s banks with increasing frequency as one travels up-stream. I once walked across the river and discovered that it was no more than nose-deep at that particular location at that time of the year. The Delaware carried my brother’s ashes to the sea and I suppose that someday, it will carry mine. I can’t boast of the privilege of having been raised along the Delaware but all four of my children can. They grew up close enough to the river that were it not for some obstructions in the way, Tiger Woods could nearly drive a ball into it from my front yard. The Delaware is my river. But, don’t worry; I’m not selfi sh. I’ll share it with you. The Delaware has its headwaters in the western sec-tions of the Catskills. Two streams fed by those waters, the East Branch and the West Branch of the Delaware River come together near Hancock, NY. From that confl uence the river fl ows southward for some 326 miles to where it empties into the Atlantic. Defi ning portions of the boundaries of four states, the Delaware is referred to as the longest free-fl owing (without dams) river east of the Mississippi. The river is divided into three sections. The Upper Delaware extends from Hancock to around Port Jervis. The section from Port Jervis south to the Delaware Water Gap is considered to be the Middle Delaware. The Lower Delaware runs from the Gap down to the river’s mouth and includes Washington Crossing State Park. Each section is unique with its own mixture of small towns and farms, parks and public lands, cities and cultural history, topography, hydrology and geology. The Delaware Watershed is over 13,500 square miles and it provides water for roughly 17 million people in the New York – Wilmington corridor. By the year 2000, most stretches of the Delaware from its upper reaches down to Washington Cross-ing State Park had been designated as “Wild and Scenic” by the federal government.

History and Prehistory

Human habitation of the Delaware River valley is gen-erally believed to have commenced near the end of the last ice age 12,000 – 10,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indians living in the area at the time, would have been nomadic hunter-gatherers fol-lowing herds of wild game across a frigid arctic-like landscape. Their Woodland Era descendants who inherited the river and its surrounding countryside as the climate warmed, became known as the Lenape. The Lenape lived in small bands and villages and took advantage of the Delaware’s abundance of fi sh, shellfi sh, waterfowl and other resources. The Dutch were the fi rst Euro-peans documented to have colonized the area in the seventeenth century.

The river tells a thousand stories that range from tales triumph and tragedy to

the mundane.

History abounds in the Delaware Valley. It is indeed, the cradle of liberty if not also opportunity and American ingenuity. The river tells a thousand stories that range from tales triumph and tragedy to the mundane. Certainly, there is the famous story of a beat up, rag-a-muffi n army of 2400 that stole its way across the Delaware one holiday evening in the midst of a raging snowstorm in order to score an unlikely battle victory in Trenton that changed the course of history. Then, there is the virtually un-known but equally heroic account of a nineteenth century teacher from Hopewell Twp., NJ, that rowed her small boat across the river every day to meet her students in a schoolhouse in Bucks County, PA. Philadelphia, once a colonial river town, became the birthplace of our nation as well as its fi rst capital. The Delaware was navigable to ships up to the present location of the Route 1 toll bridge. This explains the situation of Trenton at the extent of those waters as well as the location of the ports of Philadel-phia and Wilmington further downstream near the mouths of the negotiable section of the Delaware’s more substantial tributaries, the Schuykill and the Christina Rivers. Further upstream, rifts and rocks and shallow water would prevent the location of ports. There, villages sprang up around mills, ferries, fi sheries and farms at New Hope-Lambertville and Easton-Phillipsburg that would eventually become industrial centers in their day. Trans-portation hamlets like Titusville, Stockton, Frenchtown, Milford,

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection e Division of Parks and Forestry

NATURE’SGrapevineWASHINGTON CROSSING STATE PARK, NJ Spring 2011

Riegelsville and elsewhere would develop around ferry crossings and bridges and then would go on to become canal and railroad towns. Yarns of Indians and settlers, patriots and loyalists, kings and criminals, industrialists, spies and smugglers are all set along the banks of this most historic river.

photo credit: Wayne Henderek

This view of the Delaware looking north from the Devil’s Tea Table (Kingwood Twp.) in early spring shows Route 29, Rush and Resolution Islands in the foreground and Treasure Island in the rear.

Fish and Wildlife

One of the Delaware’s outstanding features is its fi sh and wildlife resources. There are chiefl y three reasons for this. First, the river is remarkably clean for a body of water near so large a population center as the metropolis through which it fl ows. It wasn’t always that way. By the middle of the twentieth century the Delaware was a virtual open sewer. Pilots fl ying above the river during World War II stated that they were able to smell the river even from an altitude of one mile. The Delaware was so polluted that the seasonal migrations of shad, eels and river herring were practically wiped out. Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972, the river’s health is back and so are the migratory fi sh populations. A few years ago on a spring morning, my wife and I had biked up to Lambertville and walked out on the wing dam. The shad were coming through so thickly that they obstructed any view of the riv-er’s bottom. The happy anglers present were simply snagging the fi sh with the un-baited trebles on their lures. I jumped on my bike and peddled home as fast as I could. Unfortunately, by the time I returned with my pole, the massive school of shad had passed. Local bass fi shermen know the Delaware to be one of the hottest spots around for lunkers of both the largemouth and smallmouth variety. But, stripers, perch, catfi sh, muskellunge, walleye chain

pickerel, catfi sh, trout (Upper Delaware) and many other prized game fi sh are also frequently taken from the river. The second reason for the Delaware’s great wildlife abundance lies in its physiography. Simply put, the Delaware Riv-er crosses a uniquely diverse geologic area. Starting on the Ap-palachian plateau, the river weaves its way through North Jersey’s Ridge and Valley province, skirting the Poconos. It then briefl y enters the Highlands physiographic province after which it tum-bles down onto the Piedmont and drains out onto the Coastal Plain where it becomes estuarine and where its rocky banks give way to muddy tidal marshes. A diversity of topography, rocks and soil types give rise to a variety of forests, fi elds, plants and habitats, which in turn support healthy and diverse wild faunal populations. Beaver and muskrat occur on the Delaware. Deer and black bear often steal a drink from its water. Raccoons, opossums, skunks, fox, coyote and other mid-sized mammals frequent the river’s fl oodplain fi elds and forests. Turtles bask in abundance on emer-gent rocks and vegetation in the river and frequent the marshes and tributary streams of the rivers tidal sections.


Interesting wildlife, like this great blue heron abound along the river.

Thirdly, the Delaware River lies squarely along one of four major North American bird migration routes, the Atlantic Fly-way. Birds from all over North and South America pass through this area en route to breeding and wintering grounds. Some spe-cies merely pass through. Others stay for a season. The Delaware Bay shore is a unique stop over spot for shorebirds migrating from

Nature’s Grapevine Spring 2011



The river ran its banks in April, 2005 and flooded the lower sections of WCSP.

20, 1955 when two back-on-back hurricanes produced a 28.6 ft. (as recorded at Trenton) surge in the river that resulted in a tragic loss of 100 lives as well as great property damage. The remains of bridges destroyed in that flood and never replaced are still visible near Yardley and Byram. In actuality, the river crested a full two feet higher on March 8, 1904 than it did in 1955. The reason the ’55 flood was so devastating was that the river’s floodplain had become so much more developed by the mid-twentieth century than it was at the turn of the century. Most recently, the Delaware flooded on September 19, 2004. It flooded again on April 4, 2005, and again on June 29, 2006. Three floods in three consecutive years seemed excessive and people began to point fingers and look for explanations. Everything from global warming, to river basin development, to the management of reservoirs in New York was blamed. In truth, what was unusual in that situation, wasn’t the frequency of flooding in the new century so much as it was the 49-year period of relative river quiescence. In the time period since the ’55 flood the river only came up once at 22.2 ft. in January of 1996 as a result of an ice jam. Flooding on the Delaware is actually quite a common event in the history of river flood recording, with floods of greater or lesser magnitudes occurring in 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1936, 1942, 1955, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011.

The Islands

The Delaware contains many interesting islands. Hog Is-land was located on the river adjacent South Philadelphia and has since been filled and usurped by the airport. In the early twentieth century it housed a large shipbuilding operation. Folklore (or his-tory, depending on who you ask) maintains that Italian immigrants



South America. Huge flocks consisting of hundreds of thousands of emaciated red knots, ruddy turnstones, and semipalmated plovers among other species visit this area to gorge on horseshoe crab eggs each spring before continuing their northward journey to breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic. Bald eagles both nest and winter along the Delaware. A variety of hawks, ospreys and other preda-tory birds as well as two species of vulture utilize the air currents coming from the river and reflecting off the high ground on either side to stay aloft. Warblers and other beautiful songbirds, wood-peckers, and kingfishers fly from tree to tree. Some summers, one can see egrets and great-blue herons positioned every 50 – 75 yards along the river’s banks. Gulls abound year-round and interesting ducks and other waterfowl frequent the river, especially in winter.

Danger on the Delaware

I expressed my affection for the Delaware earlier in the article. I also have a healthy dose of respect for the river because like many things natural, the Delaware can be moody, deceptive and dangerous. I once discovered, what appeared to be the jaw-bone of a child on the river’s bank, while canoeing in the Delaware Water Gap area some years ago. It was obviously ancient, hav-ing been sun-bleached and possessing rounded and eroded edges. I have no way of knowing whether the river actually took the life of the child or merely unearthed his or her remains. However, the Delaware has claimed the lives of many and adds to its tally of swimmers, fishermen, boaters, canoeists and even jet skiers pretty much every year. The river’s waters are warm and inviting in the summertime and early autumn with a balmy but refreshing temper-ature that hovers between 75° and 85°F. The current and depth at most locations near the bank are deceptively manageable for most swimmers and the river gives the appearance of being lazy and benign. However, the current becomes formidable and the water’s depth increases fairly abruptly at just several feet from the bank. If a foot becomes wedged on the rocky bottom or if a leg becomes entangled in submerged aquatic vegetation, the current can easily hold a swimmer down long enough to drown. Rifts and white-water near Belvidere, Lambertville, Scudder’s Falls, Trenton and elsewhere upstream can also extract a human toll. The Delaware becomes even more dangerous during storms, floods and high wa-ter. In the mid-autumn through mid-spring months, the river runs higher and the water is quite cold. A person falling into the river from a boat or capsizing canoe would only have a matter of min-utes to exit the water before hypothermia greatly affects his or her survival prospects. The Delaware has a storied history of flooding. The wooden covered bridge at Washington Crossing was destroyed in an 1841 flood just seven years after it was constructed to replace the original ferry at that location. The second bridge at Washington Crossing, also a wood structure, survived some sixty years until it was taken out in a 1902 flood. The 1905 iron truss bridge currently at this location is the third installment and has managed to survive to this day. The so called, “big one” occurred on August

working at the docks there, would daily bring large sandwiches containing a variety of meats, cheeses and vegetables on Italian bread to work. The sandwiches popularly became known as “hog-gies” for the Hog Island dock workers, and were the prototype of the famous hoagie that we enjoy nowadays. Treasure Island, south of Frenchtown, contains the nation’s oldest scout camp. Its sister island Marshall, is named for Edward Marshall who hid out there from some angry Lenape warriors which he helped scam out of a large tract of land in the notorious Walking Purchase of 1737. Slack’s Island, directly adjacent WCSP is traditionally be-lieved to have hidden Durham boats from the enemy’s view prior to Washington’s famous crossing. Tocks Island in the Delaware Water Gap, was the epicenter of a flood mitigation project pro-posal which became a famous political controversy bearing the same name in the 1960s and 1970s. Pea Patch Island near the river’s mouth sports a Civil War POW prison in which Confeder-ate soldiers were once incarcerated, and is now a Delaware State Park. The island and its very interesting living history programs are accessible via ferry from Ft. Mott State Park on a seasonal basis. Other Delaware River islands once contained a nationally renowned, turn-of-the-twentieth century golf course, mills, farms, Indian villages, a Victorian Era resort and even an amusement park. The Delaware has many islands that make for fascinating exploration by watercraft. Some of course, are private property and are posted. Others are in public ownership or are unrestricted. Some islands in the vicinity of the Water Gap even have primitive campsites that are available for use subject to National Park Ser-vice regulations.


The Delaware River Valley presents a photogenic landscape as in this view up the river from the Goat Hill Overlook in West Amwell Twp. The village of New Hope is in the center of the picture.

I like to tell friends and relatives that we live close enough to the Delaware to be blessed with it, but far enough away so as to not worry too much when the river undergoes a high-water temper tantrum. Perhaps my attitude is somewhat flippant. It is nevertheless, sincere. Attending the Christmas Day reenactment of



Gen. Washington’s 1776 crossing has become something of fam-ily tradition. It is indeed, an event to behold with visitors from all over the world present. Quaint local hamlets and river towns grace the Delaware’s banks and provide entertainment with inter-esting shops, restaurants, homes, cafes, inns, museums, galleries and other establishments Towpath trails along the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Delaware Canal on either side of the river provide excellent hiking and biking opportunities year-round and my family makes use of them on a regular basis. One of my fa-vorite late spring pastimes is peddling my bike slowly along some of the more lightly traveled river roads and floodplain trails as the fireflies emerge in June. On a good evening, tens of thousands of insects will form a tunnel of blinking lights around me that has a sublime, almost magical affect. Similarly, I like to launch the canoe at sundown on balmy summer evenings. Without even pad-dling, I just quietly let the boat glide down the river. As the sun sets, the blue sky gives way to magenta then deep purple and fi-nally, the starlight-speckled darkness closes in. They say that life’s simplest pleasures often bring the greatest joy. Well, living along the Delaware has been my pleasure and my joy. _____________________________________Wayne Henderek has been the park naturalist in Washing-ton Crossing State Park for over 23 years. When he’s not working in the park or hanging out on the river, he’s at home in Titusville.

References

Dale, F. (1996). Delaware Diary. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Delaware River Basin Commission. (2007). Delaware River Ba-sin Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force Action Agenda. West Trenton, NJ.

Delaware River Greenway Partnership. (2008) .Delaware River Water Trail. (map) Erwinna, PA.

Koppenhaver, B. (2010, Summer). Water Marks. Skylands Visitor, 10-15.

Scymanski, D (1998, Spring). Common Edible Fish of the Dela-ware River and its Tributaries. Nature’s Grapevine, 1-5.



SPIRIT OF THE JERSEYSSTATE HISTORY FAIR

Saturday May 7, 2011 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.Historic Village at Allaire

Allaire State Park Experience five centuries of New Jersey’s history all in one place at the SPIRIT OF THE JERSEYS - a historical festival for all ages on Saturday, May 7 at the Historic Village at Allaire, Allaire State Park in Farmingdale. This free event, which runs from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., rain or shine, drew 6,000 visitors in 2009. Now in its seventh year, the Fair is a fun-filled adventure into New Jersey’s past with living history demonstrations, mili-tary reenactors, tours, exhibits, period music, an authors’ tent and historical organizations and museums from around the state. New this year, visitors can meet Benjamin Franklin; sit for a silhouette image; watch a 19th century tinsmith; attend Maria Allaire’s wed-ding; learn about the Hindenburg and chat with Civil War soldiers Benjamin and David Scheier. There are plenty of hands-on activi-ties for kids and adults, from learning the art of paper marbling to participating in historical games; to plowing a furrow and invent-ing a working phonograph. The Fair is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Historic Sites, Division of Parks and Forestry and Allaire Village Inc. Allaire Village is the re-stored Howell Iron Works Company, an industrial community that flourished in the first half of the 19th century. The company was founded by James P. Allaire in 1822. Today, interpreters, dressed in period clothing, demonstrate daily life in the 1830s. Visitors can tour Allaire’s home, shop at the General Store and watch the blacksmith and carpenter ply their trades. Allaire Village is located in Allaire State Park and can be reached from exit 98 of the Garden State Parkway or exit 31B of I-195. For more information and a complete list of fair activities, visit www.njhistoryfair.org or call Allaire Village Inc. at 732-919-3500.


A young History Fair participant receives instruction in plowing with draft animals.

Volunteer NotesJim Wade, Princeton, and Jim Silk, Hamilton, gave some great presentations on the Paleo-Indians of New Jersey at the Nature Center in February. Mr. Wade and Mr. Silk will be returning later in the season. See the attached program schedule for details

Lou Beck, Pennington, of Washington Crossing Audubon deliv-ered a terrific winter bird walk in March. Lou will also be return-ing for a repeat performance with spring birds. See the attached program schedule for details

Ellen Coleman, Ewing, JoAnn Buckley, High Bridge, Barbara Henderek, Titusville, Robyn Henderek, Titusville and Nettie Rekowski, Ewing all assisted with our maple sugaring operation and programs.

Al Fitipaldi, Titusville, assisted with park boundary posting.

Around the ParkSchool, scout and community groups from Pennington, Hamilton Square and Plainsboro visited the WCSP Nature Center this past winter to participate in a variety of nature interpretive programs. Groups interested in coming out for spring and summer programs should give us a call.

This newsletter is available free of charge electroni-cally . It can be downloaded at the web address below. Requests to be included on the emailing list may be made by contacting the Nature Center.

Phone..........(609) 737-0609Fax...............(609) [email protected] - Sat 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Sun 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Closed Mon and TuesWebsite........www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/ parks/washcros.html

Park Naturalist& Newsletter Editor......Wayne Henderek


SPRING PROGRAMSat the

NATURE CENTER

The following is a list of activities being offered through the Nature Center at Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, NJ. Some programs are offered free without registration requirements; some will require advanced registration as indi-cated below. A fee will be charged to motor vehicles entering the park on weekends and holidays 5/28 - 9/5 (Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day). All programs will initially meet at the Nature Center unless otherwise indicated. Attendance is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Children must be accompanied by an adult. In the event of inclement weather, some programs might be canceled. It is always advisable to call ahead before coming out. Phone: (609) 737-0609.

PINE BOARD BIRDHOUSES (6 - 11 yrs.. old) Saturday April 2, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. With the breeding season underway, several species of common cavity-nesting backyard birds will be looking for places to nest. Come out and build a simple nest box that will accommodate these feathery critters. Bring your own hammer. Advanced registration required. Free

GOAT HILL OVERLOOK HIKE (pre-teen - adult) Saturday April 16, 1:00. Goat Hill Overlook is a relatively new state park acquisi-tion. The tract sits on a bluff overlooking the Delaware River in W. Amwell Twp. and boasts commanding views of the Delaware Valley including portions of Lambertville, New Hope and areas north and west into Bucks County, PA. The tract contains extensive hardwood and mixed oak forests, open fields, numerous rock outcrops, a former diabase quarry and hiking trails. We will meet in Washington Crossing at the park pond on Church Rd and carpool to the overlook for an exploration hike. The terrain will be rugged and muddy in places. Wear hiking shoes and bring drinking water. Advanced registration required. Free.

HOPEWELL COME OUTSIDE POND STUDY (all ages) Friday April 29, 4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. This program is offered in coopera-tion with the Hopewell Twp. Municipal Alliance. Families may come out after school to forage the park pond for some unique aquatic organisms. Pond nets will be supplied. Free.

WILD EDIBLE PLANTS (3 yrs. - adult) Sunday May 1, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Participants will learn to identify and prepare some of the many native and introduced plants which earlier inhabitants of the area used to supplement their diets. This program will be led by plant lore enthusiast Pat Chichon of Lambertville. Bring a pair of plant clippers and a garden trowel. Advanced registration required. Free.

COMPASS BASICS (9 yrs - adult) Saturday May 7, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Participants will learn everything they ever wanted to know about the protractor compass. They will then use their new-found skills to navigate a compass course that will take them over hills, across streams, along trails and through forests to a mysterious hidden site known as “Haunted Hollow”. Bring a protractor compass if you have an instrument of your own. If not, we will provide one. Advanced registration required after 4/5. Free

SPRING BIRD WALK (all ages) Sunday May 8, 8:30 a.m. Come and join Lou Beck of Washington Crossing Audubon as we peruse the park for spring migrants and summer resident bird species. Meet at the Nature Center. Free.

STREAM STOMP (6 yrs. - adult) Saturday May 14, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. Come out for a wet hike as we follow a park stream in search of crayfish, salamanders, caddisflys, frogs, minnows and other stream inhabitants. Advanced registration required after 4/12. Free

NATIVE AMERICANS OF THE AREA OF THE PARK (all ages) Saturday May 21, 1:00 p.m. Jim Wade, former archivist and re-searcher with the N.J. State Museum will discuss primitive stone tool use by Native Americans in central New Jersey. Emphasis will be on the significance and importance of the Indian way of life during the spring season, focusing on the activities of community fish gath-ering, hunting and village life. The program will include a slide presentation and Native American artifacts will be on display. Free.

BALDPATE MOUNTAIN HIKE (pre-teen – adult) Sunday May 22, 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. We will take the Summit Trail from its trail head on Fiddlers Creek Rd. Meet at the parking lot by Neiderer’s Pond (Church Rd).We will carpool to the trail. Advanced registration required after 4/19. Bring a water bottle and wear hiking shoes. Free (continued next page)




(Nature Center events continued)SOLAR OBSERVATION ( all ages) Saturday May 28, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. View magnetic sun storms safely through special filters via a telescope. Observe sun spots, solar flares, prominences and other solar phenomena. Learn how these storms can affect the earth as well as other interesting facts about Earth’s closest star. Gene Ramsey of the Amateur Astronomer’s Association of Princeton will lead this activity. Clear skies required. Park vehicle entrance Fee: $5.00/car.

SOLAR OBSERVATION ( all ages) Sunday May 29, 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. View magnetic sun storms safely through special filters via a telescope. Observe sun spots, solar flares, prominences and other solar phenomena. Learn how these storms can affect the earth as well as other interesting facts about Earth’s closest star. Gene Ramsey of the Amateur Astronomer’s Association of Princeton will lead this activity. Clear skies required. Park vehicle entrance Fee: $5.00/car.

PALEO LIFEWAYS AND STONE TOOL MAKING IN A NEW JERSEY ICE AGE (all Ages) Monday May 30, 12:00. – 4:00 p.m. Jim Silk, reconstructive stone tool maker and lithic technologist, will take participants on a journey back in time to the end of the last Ice Age when the earliest Native American people entered into what is now New Jersey. The program will examine regional Paleo human lifestyles, arctic landscapes and unusual prehistoric animals. Also, this program will demonstrate and explain the manufacture of specialized stone tools that were used by indigenous ice age people in adapting to their harsh environment 10,000 to 13,500 years ago. Paleo artifacts and tool replications will be displayed. park vehicle entrance Fee: $5.00/car.

BUILD A ROPE BRIDGE (8 yrs. - adult) Sunday June 5, 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. Participants will be instructed in some basic knots and rope riggings and then use their newly acquired skills to create a functioning suspended bridge over one of the park’s stream ravines. Advanced registration required after 5/9. Park vehicle entrance Fee: $5.00/car.

STREAM STOMP (6 yrs. - adult) Sunday June 12, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Come out for a wet hike as we follow a park stream in search of crayfish, salamanders, caddisflys, frogs, minnows and other stream inhabitants. Advanced registration required after 5/18. Park vehicle entrance fee: $5.00 per car.

GET OUTDOORS! - AND GEOCACHE WASHINGTON CROSSING STATE PARK ( preteens – adult) Sunday June 19, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Geocaching is a high-tech update on the good old-fashioned scavenger hunt game utilizing GPS (global positioning satel-lite) technology to locate objects hidden among the forests, fields and trails of parks, playgrounds, natural areas and other open lands. Participants will learn how to obtain information and hints from the Geocaching.com website, on the location of over a dozen geocache sites located in and around the state park. They will then use handheld GPS devices to go out and find as many caches as possible. Once a cache is found, participants typically will sign in on the log contained within and then take an object from the cache box after, leaving a trinket for subsequent geocachers.. Participants should bring a pocket full of trinkets to exchange when they locate caches. Trinkets can include small toys and balls, plastic jewelry, pens, pencils, scratch pads, patches, action figures, coins, etc. Advanced registration required Vehicle fee upon entering park: $5.00 per car. A limited number of GPS navigators will be made available to participants. Bring your own handheld GPS device if you have one. Park vehicle entrance fee: $5.00 per car.


Visitor Center/Museum(609) 737-9303

THE 1ST NEW JERSEY REGIMENT SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. Saturday, April 2, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM. The public is in-vited to observe a Revolutionary War Reenactment Regiment as it trains and prepares for battle. The event is free and will be held at the Visitor Center Museum.

NEW LOCATION - ALLAIRE STATE PARK - THE SPIRIT OF THE JERSEYS ANNUAL HISTORY FAIR. Saturday, May 7, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Experience three centuries of New Jersey history all in one place and now at Allaire State Park in Farmingdale, New Jersey. A historical festival for all ages with live music, exhibits, food, historical demonstrations & crafts, dancing, children activi-ties and more! Free Admission. $5.00 parking donation is requested. (continued next page)


(Visitor Center events continued)MUSKET FIRING DEMONSTRATION. Saturday May 14, 2:00 p.m. Join a Park Historian for an interpretive talk about some of the weapons used during the American Revolution and their use during the Battle of Trenton. Included will be a musket firing dem-onstration.

MUSKET FIRING DEMONSTRATION. Saturday May 21, 2:00 p.m. Join a Park Historian for an interpretive talk about some of the weapons used during the American Revolution and their use during the Battle of Trenton. Included will be a musket firing dem-onstration.

MUSKET FIRING DEMONSTRATION. Saturday May 28, 2:00 p.m. Join a Park Historian for an interpretive talk about some of the weapons used during the American Revolution and their use during the Battle of Trenton. Included will be a musket firing demon-stration. Park vehicle entrance fee applies.

MUSKET FIRING DEMONSTRATION. Saturday June 4, 2:00 p.m. Join a Park Historian for an interpretive talk about some of the weapons used during the American Revolution and their use during the Battle of Trenton. Included will be a musket firing demonstra-tion. Park vehicle entrance fee applies.

MUSKET FIRING DEMONSTRATION. Saturday June 11, 2:00 p.m. Join a Park Historian for an interpretive talk about some of the weapons used during the American Revolution and their use during the Battle of Trenton. Included will be a musket firing demon-stration. Park vehicle entrance fee applies.




Johnson Ferry House(609) 737-2515

INSTALLATION OF THE KITCHEN GARDEN late March through early June. Come and view the ongoing process on fair weather days and during regular public hours; Weds.-Sats 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Come anytime to see what’s coming up and what’s growing!.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

nature grapevine ’s · the delaware has its headwaters in the western sec-tions of the catskills....

Documents