Morris Parks: Lenape Day Returns to Great Swamp Center Oct. 12

Published on October 04, 2019

Celebrate Lenape Culture with Music, Dance, Hands-On Fun in Chatham Township

(JPG, 16KB)Celebrate the Ramapough Lenape People, at Lenape Day, Saturday, October 12, from noon to 4 p.m., at the Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center in Chatham Township.

Meet tribe members, enjoy a traditional drum circle, dancers in regalia, historic tools and artifacts, and much more. The Ramapough Lenape were the original inhabitants of New Jersey.

For thousands of years, before European settlers arrived, the Lenape Indians lived in New Jersey forests, hunting for deer and bears, living in handmade wigwams, fashioning dugout canoes from tulip poplar trees, and carving their tools out of rock and bone. They lived close to the land, existing in balance with nature.

The Lenape people are alive and well, and an important part of New Jersey's heritage today. Enjoy an authentic experience with fun, hands-on activities, such as making a fire without matches, molding a clay pot, and playing games Lenape children played.

Take a guided walk on the wooded trails to discover how the Lenape used local plants to meet their needs, and explore the interior of the wigwam, set up as it would have been hundreds of years ago.

Admission is $5 per person age 3 and up, and the event will be held rain or shine. For more information and directions to the Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center in Chatham Township, visit morrisparks.net or call 973.635.6629.

The Morris County Park Commission features one of the region's best park systems in the state of New Jersey. It currently protects and maintains 19,653 acres at 38 distinct sites plus offers a year-round calendar of events and activities for all to enjoy!