Changes in the Land

Changes in the Land. . , The land we know as Liberty State Park has undergone many changes. Known to the Lenape Indians as Communipaw Cove, it was a place of saltmarshes and oysters. Later Dutch and English settlers harvested salt hay for their livestock. To native people and early settlers, the saltmarsh provided resources necessary for survival., The 19th century brought many changes. The area became a vital transportation hub. The railroads needed access to deep water shipping lanes and gradually filled the shallow marshlands. Over 200 million cubic yards of fill material, mostly construction debris and other refuse from New York City, was used to cover the marsh. The diagram above shows the filling process., Today, construction within the Park often uncovers artifacts from the past. Ceramic bottles and pipes, glassware, artillery and twelve inch oyster shells are testimony to a previous time.