Author: jeff

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South Street Seaport Museum will present free August Family Activity Weekends program on Saturdays and Sundays from August 2 to 31, 2025, from 11am to 4:45pm.

August 2025: Lenape Games

Weekends in August offer families the opportunity to come aboard the tall ship Wavertree for a journey into the Greater New York region’s rich past through fun, interactive games! Discover the traditions of the area’s Indigenous people and play the same games that were enjoyed here long before the city we know today.

Family-friendly activities include Selahtinalìtin (sˈɛlɑːtˌɪnɐlˌɪtɪn): a scattering straws game similar to Pick Up Sticks or Jackstraws, and Mamantuhwin (mˈæmɐntˌuːwɪn): a dice-and-bowl game inspired by the whirligig beetle. Experience the excitement of these traditional games and connect with the history of Lenapehoking, the land now known as South Street Seaport. For more information: seaportmuseum.org/family-activity-weekends

Upcoming Schedule

Saturday, August 2, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Sunday, August 3, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Saturday, August 9, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Sunday, August 10, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Saturday, August 16, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Sunday, August 17, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Saturday, August 23, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Sunday, August 24, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Saturday, August 30, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

Sunday, August 31, 2025; 11am-4:45pm

About Family Activity Weekends

Weekends bring fun activities for the whole family to the South Street Seaport Museum. Timely hands-on activities and engagement stations for visitors of all ages provide creative opportunities that illuminate history and life at sea while enhancing your visit to the Seaport Museum’s galleries, the tall ship Wavertree, and the lightship Ambrose. Activities and their locations change each month to highlight various aspects of maritime history, New York City’s beginnings as a port city, or the Museum’s collections and offerings. seaportmuseum.org/family-activity-weekends

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In the Delaware River, between Camden, New Jersey’s Beideman neighborhood and the eastern side of Philadelphia, is Petty’s Island. The quiet, 300-acre island is full of history and wildlife, but is devoid of human inhabitants. 

Petty’s Island wasn’t always desolate. For centuries, it was a place where people lived, farmed and worked. North Americans living in the Delaware River region, who called themselves the Lenape, were the first to occupy the island. But when natural resources depleted in the region, the Lenape sold the island in 1678 to an English Quaker named Elizabeth Kinsey. 

The island then went through numerous owners, including Philadelphia merchant John Petty, who bought it in 1732. The island was named after Petty, and today is referred to as “Petty Island” and “Petty’s Island.” 

Eventually, the island was converted to a hub for industry and international commerce.Its central location, within the Port of Philadelphia and its connection to more than 60 steamship lines offering direct trade routes to many countries, made the island ideal.

The company now known as CITGO purchased some of the island in 1916, and used it to store and refine petroleum products. Nearly 40 years later, CITGO gained full ownership, but its operations never required use of all 300 acres of the island.

In the early 2000s, the petroleum company discovered a pair of American bald eagles nesting on the island, along with other threatened wildlife, and offered to donate the island to New Jersey. The state rejected CITGO’s offer. 

Years later, through the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Natural Lands Trust, New Jersey accepted a different offer that involved CITGO working to rid the island of contamination. That included removing pollutants from the soil and groundwater, moving contaminated materials off the island, and…

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