Home » Tulpehaking Nature Center to celebrate community, nature, local heritage

Tulpehaking Nature Center to celebrate community, nature, local heritage

by MercerMe Staff

The Tulpehaking Nature Center will host its third annual Family Fun Day open house on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with live animals, nature activities, crafts, face painting, food and prizes. 

Parents and children will be able to go on a treasure hunt with a map and compass, take the fishing challenge, examine aquatic creatures, create their own wildlife puppets for plays in the Puppet Theater, and more. Scheduled events will include live animal presentations, a guided nature walk, a concert by the Princeton School of Rock, and camping demonstrations by REI.

And in order to fuel all that activity, free hot cider and doughnuts will be available to the first 100 visitors.

Family Fun Day 2016 is part of River Days, a six-week series of events celebrating the Delaware River Watershed, and funded in part by the William Penn Foundation through the D&R Greenway Land Trust. Special focus will be given to the region’s rich history and connection to the Delaware River and Abbott Marshlands.

“This region that we now call the Abbott Marshlands provided important resources for the native peoples who lived here, due in part to its specific location along the Delaware River,” said Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes. This year’s event will offer expanded programming that highlights this heritage with demonstrations in creating stone tools through flint knapping and in preparing food. Visitors will be able to make their own cordage and decorate pottery. “They’ll even have a chance to taste what a Native American meal might have been like,” Mr. Hughes added.

Family Fun Day activities are free for the community. Food truck items, snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. For more information, please call 609-888-3218.

Scheduled Events

10:30 Story Time

11:00 Live Animals of the Marsh presentation

11:30 REI Campfire session: What KNOT to do Camping

12:00 Live music by the Princeton School of Rock

1:00 Flint knapping demonstration

1:30 REI Campfire session: Navigation Basics

2:00 Citizen Science: Bird walk & survey

2:30 REI Campfire session: What KNOT to do Camping

3:00 Flint knapping demonstration

3:30 Live reptile presentation

4:00 Free raffle drawing

The Tulpehaking Nature Center provides programs and exhibits that encourage visitors to explore the cultural, historic and natural resources of the Abbott Marshlands. Owned by the County of Mercer and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission, the Tulpehaking Nature Center is located at 157 Westcott Ave. in Hamilton and is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. For more information about the nature center, programs and schedule of events, go to www.mercercountyparks.org.

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