Lenape Years to Early European

Lenape Years to Early European Settlement in the Township of Pequannock

• The Lenni Lenape, a native American people, once hunted, fished, gathered, and farmed the lands that is now called Pequannock Township.
• Lenape stone tools and weapons - mostly arrowheads - are still being found in Pequannock Township.
• The word "Pequannock" is derived from a Lenape word meaning, "cleared land ready or being readied for cultivation."
• The word "Pompton" is derived from a Lenape word possibly meaning, "a place to catch soft fish."
• The oldest written reference to the word Pequannock is found on a Dutch map known as the Adriaen Van Der Donck's Map, 1656 in which Pequannock is spelled "Pachquakonck."
• Arent Schuyler (1662 to 1730) and other New York investors purchased the land from the Lenape in 1696 that would become Pequannock Township in a purchase known as the "Pompton Patent."
• Arent Schuyler (1662 to 1730) referred to the land of present-day Pequannock Township as a "wondrous beautiful valley."
• Beside being purchased from the Lenape, 1000 acres were purchased from the East Jersey Proprietors "at 10 pounds per 100"
• The first families to settle the West Bank of the Pequannock River, now Pequannock Township, were the Le Mattre, Comley and VanNess families.
• The Township of Pequannock was created in 1740.
• When the Township of Pequannock was created in 1740 it was the largest town in Morris County.
• Pequannock Township once encompassed a sprawling 176 square miles. Today it is only 6.95 square miles.
• The present-day Newark-Pompton Turnpike was once called the "King's Highway," in honor of the King of England.