ACTIVE PROPERTIES in Warwick's Greenbelt 2022
1. Pulpit Rock, a 15' Lenape Manitou Standing Stone, West St, Warwick, NY.
LEARN More:
What is a Manitou Stone? Energy of Stones "Spirit Rocks" 1929 Warwick Historian Sue Gardner
Tour Warwick Sacred Geomancy Sites
A developer wants to build hotel/motel units and swimming pool up to and around it. Pulpit Rock has a deed restriction prohibiting the owner from "damaging, removing or relocating the rocks." He cannot arbitrarily blast them away. The town recorded that deed as a part of its Community Preservation Fund program and the Town Board is required to enforce deed restriction.
January, 2022 The Warwick, NY Town Planning Board is still awaiting the Developer's responses to the Scoping Document. This could be a long process. There are many such ""Zombie Properties" in the Town.
There's a similar issue ongoing in Canada at Split Rock. Near here, in Rockland County, NY, a similar Spirit Stone was deftly incorporated into a cute Mall.
2. Ball Rock Shelter, Brady Rd, Warwick a short history
An “Indian 
Cave” with artifacts (removed in 1960s), located on a steep ridge, adjacent to a 90-unit condo project, presently(April, 2022) under construction.At the 11/10/2020 Village Planning Board Meeting, the Project Engineer, after questioning by a PB member, agreed to double check the condo property for "cemeteries and native sites." This is ripe for discussion about becoming part of a "greenbelt" and how much to mark and designte the site.
A few of us visited in mid-March 2021 and found it in tact and protected by terrain and wetlands. There was a faint odor of some herbal smoke in it. Seems to still be in use for some ceremonial events.
RELATED REGIONAL SITES
McEwan Rock Shelter, Vernon Article, with reference to a bulldozed Rock Shepter to make beach parking lot in Waywayanda Park
Mount Lookout, in Goshen, is the location of eight cav
es, called the Dutchess Quarry Cave Site. Excavated in the 1960’s, they yielded objects and tools dating back 12,000 years indicating use as a paleolithic seasonal hunting camp. The caves are unique and now on the National Register of Historic Places which required protective 13-acre buffer area. Like many archeological sites, the caves are fragile, They are not accessible to the public.
The area is also rich in dolomitic limestone, a mineral used in roadbeds and asphalt. The whole site is owned by Orange County and has been leased to quarry companies for fifty years. In October, the County Legislature, voted (16-5) to consider selling 31-acres near the caves which contain an estimated 4 million tons of dolomite. The land was deemed “unnecessary for public use”. One big concern was to limit County liability when the mining is done and the quarry fills with water. Selling the property would do this. The County is presently preparing a document to invite offers to purchase that land. Legislator Barry Cheney, chairman of Physical Space Committee, expects there will be offers in this calendar year. Local archeologists and citizens are very concerned that the caves may be in danger.
Orange Environment is coordinating the 2021 efforts on behalf of Mount Lookout
What all these properties share is the difficult issue of competing use. Whose vision of Land, Rocks, Water, Nature guides the uses of land? In both these cases, there are unpredictable geological and water table consequences of the required blasting, mining and construction. Is the risk of damaging these ancient icons worth it? In both cases there has been talk about developing the sites for “Heritage Tourism”, places which offer a a unique experience with the past and the land, a pleasant complement to Woodbury Commons, Wineries, Breweries and Legoland.
What to Do?
Sign The Pulpit Rock Petition!
Repatriate Pulpit Rock to Lenape?
Go Visit and Touch Nearby Reminders of the Lenape:
Ball Rock Shelter, Brady Rd and Melody Lane, Warwick
Churt in Rocks, Lewis Woodlands
Petroglyph carved into rock in Creek in Hickory Hill Park, Warwick
Cairns and Stone Lithics, Fitgerald Falls area, Lakes Rd, Monroe
Churt Quarries along the Appalachian Trail, Rt 94S
Minisink Rock Shelter, Minisink, NY.
Learn More Search for "The Lands of the Lenape"
see Millen Brand's Local Lives
Rich Pillar suggests a cultural mapping of places/features in the region a day's walk from Pulpit Rock. eg Ball Rock Shelter, Dutchess Quarry Caves, Lenape Village in Vernon, Goosepond,
This is similar to what Hermen Bender suggested on 7.10:
Your rock fits the pattern, but what you need to do is link it with the cultural landscape which is very encompassing and would include research on known prehistoric Indian trails, habitation sites (who and when), if there are any 'phenomenal attributes' and such or other landscape associations worth noting like springs or a prominence.
The Lenape Center, New York, NY
Slideshow on Lenape Life from Riverkeeper Delaware Tribe
Lenape in West Milford Area After Contact
Lenapelifeways.org/ lenapetxts.com tribe@delawaretribe.org
the years long battle in Mahwah, NJ over a site and stone sacred to local Lenape.