| Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area | |
|---|---|
 Silver Thread Falls, the smaller waterfall at Dingman's Falls site, near Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania, June 2006 | |
    | |
| Location | New Jersey and Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Nearest city | Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Port Jervis, New York |
| Coordinates | 41°09′14″N 74°54′50″W / 41.15381°N 74.91388°W |
| Area | 66,741 acres (270.09 km2)[1] |
| Established | September 1, 1965 |
| Visitors | 4,207,541 (in 2023)[2] |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area |
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The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a 70,000-acre (28,000 ha) national recreation area administered by the National Park Service in northwest New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania. It is centered around a 40-mile (64 km) stretch of the Delaware River designated the Middle Delaware National Scenic River. At the area's southern end lays the Delaware Water Gap, a dramatic mountain pass where the river cuts between Blue Mountain and Kittatinny Mountain.
More than 4 million people visit the recreation area annually, many from the nearby New York metropolitan area. Canoeing, kayaking, and rafting trips down the river are popular in the summer. Other activities include hiking, rock climbing, swimming, fishing, hunting, camping, cycling, cross-country skiing, and horseback riding. Worthington State Forest and a section of the long-distance Appalachian Trail are located within the area, alongside numerous waterfalls and historic sites.
The region, known historically as the Minisink, was inhabited by the Munsee at the time of Dutch and French Huguenot colonization in the late 17th century. The national recreation area was established in 1965 ahead of a dam project which would have flooded a large region north of the Water Gap. Over 15,000 people were displaced as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired land for the reservoir. The controversial project was ultimately canceled in 1978 and the land transferred to the recreation area.
There are efforts as of 2022[3][4] to re-designate the area as a national park, the first in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.
- ^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-12-16. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
- ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
- ^ "End of fishing, hunting? Redesignating Delaware Water Gap to national park faces obstacles".
- ^ "Push to make Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area a National Park receives both praise and concern". 12 August 2022.