This cache is in the new Prospect Point Preserve
owned by Jefferson Twp. Not too far from this geocache site was a
Nariticong Indian settlement as evidenced by artifacts that have
been found from time to time. Surely, on and about this very
location, the Indians hunted for game. And, very nearby, fished and
grew their crops on the then areas of flatlands (now submerged
under the lake) from here to Woodport.
These Nariticongs were a clan of the Leni
Lenape, a branch of the warlike Delawares, estimated to have
occupied this area of New Jersey for some 12,000 to 14,000 years
and long after the rescission of the Wisconsin glacial that gouged
out the valleys of Lake Hopatcong. This noble race left New Jersey
and Lake Hopatcong by the mid 1700’s after first being driven
out by Dutch traders and settlers. The Nariticongs eventually left
by choice and signed a treaty whereby their lands were formally
relinquished just after British colonization. In any case, they no
longer wanted to live along with the “whites” and were
overwhelmed by all the restrictions as well as a decimation of
their population due to substantially succumbing to excess alcohol
consumption and “white man” diseases such as smallpox,
measles and tuberculosis. A chief of the Leni Lenape once said that
the “whites” only kept one of there promises to them
and that was to take their land.
Our local Nariticong inhabitants lived along
the shores of River Styx and had their main settlement on or near
the southwestern part of Halsey Island, now under water. Halsey
Island, at that time, was connected to the mainland at Prospect
Point. Before the mid 1700’s Lake Hopatcong was initially
twelve feet lower when its level was raised by a succession of dams
built initially for water-powering a grist mill and an iron forge
within the area of the present Lake Hopatcong State Park and later
raised again for the lake’s role as the principle source of
water for the Morris Canal.
I hope you enjoy finding this geocache and be
reminded that the Indians surely were at this site, possibly as
recently as three hundred years ago. At least this geocache find
will not subject you to: smallpox, measles or tuberculosis…
but I remain unsure about the possibility of geocachers succumbing
to excess alcohol consumption (after the search). Ha-ha, just
kidding!
Local historian and father of BogataTRACKER
03/20/2011
The best way to get to this cache is to park on
Florida Ave. Look for the tennis and basketball court.Park on the
side of the road. Find the trail head near the basketball court.
The trail starts and stops. We took two trails and also did a
little bushwhacking
UPDATE 3/28/2011 I added a waypoint for the parking area.