Background

The first human habitation on the land of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area began more than 10,000 years ago. Later, some 300 to 400 years ago, the Minisink region along the Delaware River was the focal point of Native American agricultural settlements. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the valley became host to European Americans whose settlements and agriculture created a distinctive pattern on the landscape: a mosaic of open fields and forests, with farmsteads and a pattern of roads. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the valley’s dramatic scenic beauty and recreational opportunities made it a popular resort destination. By the mid-twentieth century, agriculture began to decline and tourists found other resorts to frequent.

In the 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers planned to dam the Delaware River to create the Tocks Island Reservoir, and took much of the property in the area by eminent domain. In 1965, Congress created the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to take advantage of the recreational opportunities that would be created by the proposed reservoir. In 1978, after the Tocks Island Dam was deauthorized as a result of environmental and economic feasibility concerns, all the land that had been acquired by the Army Corps was transferred to the National Park Service. That same year, the stretch of the Delaware River running through the national recreation area was designated a scenic and recreational river under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.