Scout Programs

Scout ProgramsVikrant_ES_Jun2015

The Cora Hartshorn Arboretum provides many opportunities to observe biofacts, meet a naturalist, and learn to share your world with wildlife. Our educators offer a variety of programs specifically designed to meet the requirements of many Boy Scout and Girl Scout Badges. Most programs are typically 60-90 minutes long, and are $7.50/scout with a minimum program fee of $75.

You can download our Scout Brochures here

Please contact us at 973-376-3587 or info@hartshornarboretum.org to schedule your visit!

Eagle Scout Award Service Projects

As you work toward your Eagle Scout Award, please keep the trails and grounds of the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum in mind! Our experienced conservation educators are delighted to work with candidates who can show leadership among their peers and elders.  The Rank of Eagle is the highest honor a Scout can receive, and the staff of the CHA has helped over 20 young men reach this honor.

Girl Scout Awards: Bronze, Silver, and Gold

Each of these Girl Scout awards marks a time in a girl’s life where she worked and led in a big group, small group, and individually.  The Gold Award is the highest honor a girl can achieve with the Girl Scouts, and is not often achieved.  You will work with our experienced conservation educators to build and educate the community, making a lasting impression on the world around you.

Scout Service Hours

If you are a Scout and need to volunteer your service hours to advance to the next rank, the CHA is here to offer you the chance to give back to the community. We constantly need help on our trails and grounds.  After you’ve completed your hours, you will receive a letter from CHA listing how many hours were completed, with contact information of the staff member who oversaw your work.

About The Lenni Lenape Shelter

The web content here and the interpretive education exhibit on our grounds is part of an Eagle Scout Service Project by Joshua Kirshenbaum, leading his peers and elders with the Scouts of Troop 17, St. Rose of Lima.

About our Lenape Interpretive Education Exhibit:

  • Shelter:
    • The shelter has three main parts: the Y-sticks that make up the entrance, the main beam going from the Y-sticks to the back of the shelter, and the two walls that were lashed to the main beam. The shelter was also covered with leaves to protect the Lenni Lenape from the elements. The shelter was always built using nearby materials.  The Lenape would have used shelters like these on expeditions away from their village or while travelling.
  • Food Storage:
    • The food storage was constructed by digging a hole and covering it with a wooden cover that was lashed together.  The Lenape would have used this to store dried meat, dried fish, nuts and other dried edibles.  These stored food items allowed the Lenape to survive harsh winters.
  • Cooking Fire:
    • The cooking fire was constructed by making a fire ring with rocks and creating a tripod to hang a pot from.  The Lenape would have used this cooking fire to cook food or to dry meat and fish so that they last longer.
  • Drying Rack:
    • The drying rack was constructed by lashing smaller sticks perpendicular to two longer sticks and having the longer stick be elevated by four y-sticks.  The Lenape would have used this drying rack to sun-dry meat and fish.  The Lenape dried their food because dry food lasts much longer.

About the Lenape

Prior to European colonization of the Americas, the Lenape lived and thrived in the Delaware River valley, including: New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, southeastern New York, northern Delaware, and a small section of southeastern Connecticut.  This area was known as “Lenapehoking”- Land of the Lenape.

The Lenape lived together in groups of 25-50 people, with occasional villages having 200-300 residents. The Lenape clans were traced matrinineally, or based around descent from a person’s mother. Sons were the ones who were expected to leave their clan to join a new one. There were three known clans of Lenape: Wolf, Turkey, and Turtle. Each village had a council that decided all public affairs that was led by a sachem (chief).  Each sachem was appointed and dismissed by the eldest woman in the community.

The Role of Men and Women in a Lenape Village:

  • Women’s roles in society
    • Planted and harvested crops – general farming
    • Gathered foods from the wilderness such as roots, nuts, berries
    • Made clay pots, wove mats, baskets, bags
    • Prepared animal hides for use in shelters and clothing
    • Managed homes
  • Men’s roles in society
    • Cleared land and built/repaired houses
    • Made canoes out of trees
    • Fished using baskets and fish weirs (obstructions in a river that redirect and trap fish)
    • Hunted animals (primarily deer, elk, bear) using bows and arrows
    • Trapped animals such as otters, minks, muskrats, beavers, raccoons and wild cats
    • Also trapped/shot birds such as eagle, geese, turkey, partridge, wild duck, and pigeon
    • Fought in war to defend homes