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great swamp national wildlife refuge glacial lake passaic nj archeological dig

Swamp Walk

by Mary Jasch

After a stay-indoors winter, K and I think about getting in shape for our yearly section hike on the Appalachian Trail. Beginning gently, we choose a flat trail of the Great Swamp, located in Lord Stirling Park in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The Passaic River flows through the swamp on its way northeast to Passaic, slicing off a small chunk of the swamp's southwestern-most portion for the Somerset County Park Commission, and leaving the rest for the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

A remnant of Glacial Lake Passaic, the Great Swamp was formed when glacial deposits changed the Passaic River's drainage pattern.


We start at the Environmental Education Center building and take a five-mile walk around the perimeter of this 450-acre piece of the park. The trail zigzags through edge territory - bits of wooded upland, maintained fields, marsh and swamp. Boardwalks span the wetlands, and lookout towers provide surprise, close up views. The walk is easy, but wet, and we're glad for our waterproof boots. Life in the murk awakens as buds swell and leaf out, sedges spike skyward and frogs croak.

Ponds surround the nature center ¬ Esox, Lily Pad and Branta among them. “They are man-made,"ť says Catherine Schrein, park manager. “When the park was built up in the 1970s, they wanted to have some body of water adjacent to the building to be used for studies." A lookout tower overlooking Lily Pad Pond affords a good view for bird-watching.

Areas of controlled burns spot the ground. “We've had a five-year burn management program in effect," Schrein says. The long-range plan was developed to provide proper habitat for different types of species. As the plan nears its end, management will evaluate its productiveness.

We walk past stands of pin oak and red maple. Parts of the swamp are flooded and others are blackened and smell of fire, but soon the welcome sound of spring peepers joins us for the entire walk. A strange sight appears - a meadow with 3 by 3-foot holes dug out of the ground. It turns out to be part of an archeological dig, a hunt for artifacts of other cultures that lived here as far back as 8,000 BC.

“Its long known that those fields and the entire Great Swamp had a great deal of Indian artifacts for about 10,000 years," says Alan Cooper, archeologist and Morristown Beard School teacher, who is hired by the Somerset County Park Commission to conduct a Public Archeology program sponsored by the nature center. Cooper has found tools and tool-making debris, points for darts called “atl-atl" and drills for woodworking and leather, and the rocks that made them among the goods. The rocks' origins and location at digging gives Cooper clues.

“This allows us to establish ideas of an ancient economy and their trade networks. It's an attempt to reconstruct how these people lived."ť The artifacts are from the Late Archaic and Early Woodland people from 2,000 to 6,000 years ago ¬ 0 to 4,000 BC. The Lenape Meadow Excavation dig is open to the public in spring and fall.

Things are quiet in the swamp ¬ calm, balmy, waiting to be floriferous. The frogs go at it ¬ a musical serenade with the high tones of peepers and a deeper racket of bigger frogs, all accented by bird song. Galls decorate the ends of tree branches hanging over the water.

The land is burned at Lenape Meadow. Alongside the trail the tall dried stems and grey button flowers of Pycnanthemum yield a minty fragrance when crushed. Dried sweetspire stands around the naked trunks of musclewood, a.k.a. ironwood, trees. One can imagine that the Early Woodland people used the area because of its abundance of plants and animals.

Cooper and his group unearthed hearths that the ancient civilizations cooked on. “Hearths were cooking fires and the communal center of a settlement or house,"ť he says. "Cooking of food, such as the deer or fox would go on there, as well as heating stones to warm up the stew which was a staple of the diet (containing whatever was available). Also, the number of chips of stone found nearby would indicate that hands were not idle - making and sharpening points or other stone implements would have happened around the hearth also. In one area, we found a couple of broken implements and numerous flakes and chips, indicating an extensive period of tool making next to a fire. There can be stories in the dirt!"ť

Under the boardwalk that traverses the East Marsh, patches of green and brown water plants begin to emerge. A little side jaunt leads to the slow moving Passaic River, here about 20 feet wide. As we stroll further down the path, frogs jump out of our way. In the water, one tree's white fungi-covered trunk looks like a lace dress. The frogs are having a great time among the shrubs. Swamp rose and black gum grow out of tussuck sedges that appear different here than in Woodpecker Swamp.

On dry land again, the Great Swamp White Oak looms before us as we head toward Blueberry Way, a passage through what appears to be a natural allee of highbush blueberry, and then over Earwig Bridge. Beguiling names, all. But Schrien says all of the names were put in almost 30 years ago and there are no specific historical notes left.

Many decades ago much of the land was farmed and trees were planted to delineate property lines. This must be one, for it had sunlight from all sides to grow in such a full way.

At last, a short easy climb to get the lungs working. The W. Observation Deck stands in a field. We backtrack slightly, then follow the trail looping close to the road. Civilization is close – soon educational gardens appear ¬ a Tracks Garden with stepping stones of critter tracks, Branta Pond with a sentinel bald cypress exposing its skinny knees down the small stream. Nobody knows how it got there or who planted it, but according to local legend, it arrived via World's Fair.

If you're ready for more after walking the easy perimeter, the park's inner matrix of trails runs about three miles. Bring lunch.

For information on the Lenape Meadow Excavation: Website or 908-766-2489

Somerset County Park Commission
Environmental Education Center
190 Lord Stirling Road
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
908-766-2489 or Website







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published April 25, 2004

Photos to enlarge


Archeological dig


5000BC Hearth, courtesy Alan Cooper


Monochromatic Serenity


More Fun


Great Swamp White Oak


Tussock Sedge


Upland Habitat


Bald Cypress Knees


Goose on Branta

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