Friends show they dig local archeology

Dingmans Ferry — Gail Wershing, president of the Friends of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, recently presented a gift of a Clyde Butcher photograph to John Wright, the retiring chief of visitor services and cultural resources for the park. The Butcher photo, of the Flat Brook in New Jersey, was given by Wershing on behalf of the directors of the Friends at their annual meeting on Dec. 9. Wright, who serves as archeologist for the 70,000-acre park and retires in March, delivered a program on the park’s archeological history at the meeting. He revealed that the park has 482 documented archeological sites within its boundaries in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but only about 20 acres have been surveyed. Wright told the group that his two favorite discoveries in the park are a Munsee hamlet in New Jersey dating between 969 and 1030 AD and various finds in the basement of the Shoemaker House in Bushkill. A lively Q and A followed Wright’s presentation and he was mobbed like a rock star by local archeological buffs.