Languages of the Park

Lenape Language

Lenape voices have echoed throughout the Delaware River Valley for more than 12,000 years. Even today, long after many were unjustly forced out of their ancestral home, several places and landmarks in the park bear Lenape names or references. The name Lenape itself carries an important meaning – something like “the people” or “real people.” From the mountains at the Gap – Tammany and Minsi – to Mashipacong Island, there are reminders of the land’s original people throughout the park. This is proof of their eternal legacy in the area.

Here are some other Lenape place names and their meanings:

• Kittatinny (Kittatinny Mountains): from the word Kitatëne, which means “big mountain.”
• Minisink: meaning “people of the stony country” or “at the island.”
• Pahaquarry: from the word Pahaqualong, which means “the place between the mountains beside the waters”
• Pocono: from the word Poco-hanne, which means “a stream between the mountains”

Dutch Settlement
When New York was still New Amsterdam, Dutch settlement reached down from the Hudson Valley to the Middle Delaware Valley along routes like today's 209 to Esopus, New York. The most conspicuous Dutch word in the park is "kill" meaning a course of water. It is thus redundant to say "Bushkill Creek"; it is the Bush Kill; likewise for Raymondskill and Saw Kill in Milford and various Bennakills. Dutch settler names include Dingmans, Schoonover, Swartwood, Rosencrans, Westphalen, Westbrook, and Van Gordon. Van Campen Inn is the park's enduring example of Dutch colonial architecture.

A Dash of French
Samuel DePew, a Huguenots (French Protestant), settled in New Jersey in 1697 and bought land from the natives that includes today's Shawnee-on-Delaware. Among his prominent descendants are survivors of the French and Indian War. Today Depue Island (Pennsylvania, near Shawnee) and Depew island (New Jersey, viewed from Riverview on McDade Trail) recall the family name.

That Word "Gap"
Several words in the English language denote a break or cleft in the mountains. Chasm and notch are popular in New England; pass and gorge in the South and West of the United States. Gap is especially common in this part of the country. A gap or wind gap is a break or pass through the mountains, in this case, the Appalachian Mountains and Kittatinny Ridge. A water gap is a pass that a river runs through. Culvers Gaps near Newton NJ, and Totts Gap and Foxtown Gap PA at the south end of the park are three other gaps nearby.