Bristol's indigenous mammal returns to Silver Lake Park in the township
My recent column (“Beavers, the historic dam builders, make a comeback” published March 17, 2023) drew the interest of Clarence King. The Northampton resident is a knowledgeable expert on the origins and ecology of Silver Lake Park in Bristol Township.
“Excellent article on beavers. You have returned back into my little world again,” Clarence began. “Bristol has a Beaver Street which extends into Bristol Township as Beaver Dam Road. I have no idea when that road received its name, but the road has been there since 1696. You have to assume the beaver dam in the road’s name is for a beaver dam north of Silver Lake or somewhere on nearby Mill Creek.
“My family, the King family, have been living along Silver Lake for four generations since 1850. Research I have done suggests that beaver along the Delaware River were mostly gone by the time William Penn arrived in 1682. They had all been trapped and the furs sent to Europe. From information fed down through my family, there have been no beavers at Silver Lake until my generation. They returned to Silver Lake in 2015 or 2016 and are now plentiful. There is no reason to remove them.
“There is a small beaver dam which the animals have maintained for the past five or six years and they have built five lodges to my knowledge. After about three years. they abandon their lodge and build a new one, just like people with houses. There is a new lodge this year which is easily visible from the park’s nature trail.”
The lake’s mineral waters are amber in color, once sought after for their medicinal value from the late 18th century to the early 19th. A major spring flowing from beneath a large bath house at Silver Lake made Bristol an international attraction.
As to the beavers, they’ve returned across the continent. For nearly four centuries, the mammals were driven to near extinction due to the unquenchable thirst for soft beaver pelts for top hats, fashionable clothes and perfume in Europe. That ended when fashion couture changed by the late 1800s. Today, the state of Pennsylvania among others celebrates the return of the aquatic marvels.
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Trivia on those dam builders
Reader Andy Barniskis passed along trivia about beavers to mark International Beaver Day this past April 7:
– They’re the national animal of Canada with a life expectancy of 16 years.
– At Lent, beavers once were considered fish by the Catholic Church.
– Beaver couples are monogamous, remaining faithful through multiple breeding seasons.
– The animals have a set of transparent eyelids enabling them to see underwater and giving them the appearance of google eyes.
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Don’t move the Lenape statue!
Barton Cartwright of Oklahoma had this to say after reading my column on the Philadelphia statue of Lenape Chief Tamanend (“Treaty promised Lenape Indians statehood” published March 3):
“Growing up in Lower Makefield and being a member of the Delaware Nation of Western Oklahoma, I agree the statue of Tamanend should stay where it is on Front and Market streets facing William Penn. Also Pennsylvania should recognize that this is our ancestral homeland and that WE ARE STILL HERE!!!!”
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State government does not recognize the Lenape tribe or any other tribe since most were forcibly removed from Pennsylvania in 1754 and their land confiscated. The Delawares (as the Lenape came to be called by colonialists) eventually ended up in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Canada. A treaty negotiated with the Continental Army during the American Revolution had promised statehood to the tribe in Western Pennsylvania for its help fighting the English and allowing the army to build a fort on Indian land. After the war Congress ignored that promise in the Fort Pitt Treaty.
The federal government, unlike Pennsylvania, recognizes the tribe and its ancestral roots. State Sen. Steve Santarsiero from Lower Makefield is leading a legislative effort in Harrisburg to grant long overdue recognition to its original tribes.
Information on Silver Lake Park, 1306 Bath Road, can be found on the web at https://silverlakenaturecenter.org/ or by calling 215-785-1177.
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com. Signed copies of both volumns of his “Bucks County Adventures” are at bookstores in Newtown, Doylestown and Lahaska (Peddlers Village).
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bristol Township’s indigenous mammal returns to Silver Lake Park
