We took a short hike yesterday to the Bevans Rock Shelter, a 24-foot-long rock formation near Peter’s Valley Craft School in Bevans, New Jersey.
As you can see from the photo, the rock has been worn away leaving a large natural shelf as protection from the weather. Native Americans used this site as an apparently permanent living space; there have been hundreds of artifacts excavated from here over the years.
This area is open to the public (though the shelter is unmarked, and there is no trail) and federally protected, as part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which has its own interesting back story.
Peter’s Valley itself is an important part of Maiorana-family lore: my dad Tom Maiorana was unofficially the first resident blacksmith at Peter’s Valley in the 1970s, and designed the original bracket for their sign. My older brother Marc is a metalsmith as well and has taught classes at PV, even bringing dad back to help.
Do you know how the public access the rock shelter? I tried to get there with my daughters today but all I had was Google Maps – made no sense and I was lost-ish in the woods for 20 minutes, but we are now determined more than ever to visit. Any advice is super appreciated!!
Yes, if you travel just a couple minutes down Thunder Mountain Road in Peter’s Valley, it’ll be on your left-hand side. You can’t see it from the road, but you can see the swamp it borders. There’s no trail, but the woods are clear enough that if you walk towards the swampy area you can’t miss it.