Black Creek site for festival
Annual Pow Wow will be held this Sunday Vernon The Black Creek Festival and Pow Wow will be held on Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Black Creek Site at Maple Grange Park, featuring American Indian regalia and fancy dancing and New York Times bestselling author Amy Hill Hearth. Hearth will be signing her book “Strong Medicine Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say.” Last year, more than 2,000 people attended. This year’s event will feature continuous American Indian dancing and regalia with the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape and Ramapough Indian tribes, historic presentations by Lenape Lifeways; storytelling; guided archaeological tours of the historic site; live wolves and other animal presentations; archaeological displays, food and merchandise vendors, children’s crafts and games; jewelry, arts and crafts; harvest celebration and entertainment for all ages. Hearth’s book is an oral history of Native American matriarch Marion Strong Medicine Gould, mother of Nanticoke tribal chief Mark Gould. The book tells about the Indian way of life. Hearth is the author of “Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years,” a book that was made into a television movie, was on the New York Times Bestseller list for 105 weeks and was the subject of a three-time Tony Award nominated play. Hearth’s books will be for sale and she will personally sign them. Drum and dance show The highlight of the event will be at noon when the Lenape drum and dance in full regalia, featuring the Red Blanket Drum Corps of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape Indians of Bridgeton, who will do their grand entrance. The suggested donation for admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Children under 5 are admitted free of charge. There is free onsite parking for the event. The fee for vendors is $25; non-profits vendors pay $15. For information about vendors, call 973-827-5676. For general information, call 973-764-6545. Vendors may download applications at www.vernonhistoricalsociety.com.
The Black Creek Site
The Black Creek Site is located on Maple Grange Road in Vernon and is adjacent to the Maple Grange Community Park. The site is listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places and is considered one of the most significant prehistoric American Indian sites in the state. It is one of only four American Indian sites listed on the New Jersey Register. Artifacts recovered from the site, which will be on display, give evidence that the site was occupied from the Early Archaic Period (8,000 B.C.) to the Late Woodland Period contact with Europeans (1600s).