local history
Hunting for the Past The Grotz brothers inherited theirfather ’ s talent for finding Lenni Lenapeartifacts WRITTEN BY PHILIP DEVENCENTIS PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN
GOOD TEAM
Brothers Wilfred and Frederick Grotz stand before their late father ’ s collection of
Native American artifacts .
Wilfred Grotz and his brother , Frederick , inherited agift from their father that cannot be bought or duplicated .
It is an innate sense , they say , to be able to survey any chunk ofland in the valley and to know whether it can yield the Native American relics of their fancy .
Over the span of decades , the brothers and their father , the late Gustav C . Grotz , harvested hundreds of arrowheads , cutting blades and other collectible stones from this area . They went on hours-long jaunts to construction sites where excavators had delved into the virgin earth and to the peripheries of vast farms where noone would notice them .
There were frequent rendezvous to Wihlahoosa Cave in Port Jervis , New York , and to nearby locations like — like the southern tip of Lincoln Park , where two rivers meet . These grounds once teemed with Lenni Lenape artifacts , the brothers say .
Frederick “ Rick ” Grotz , 70 , of Totowa , says he remembers picking up arrow points “ like candy ” at one spot , as if someone smacked apiñata .“ You can almost picture what it was like 200 years ago when you ’ re sitting on that same bluff asthe Indian was ,” says Wilfred “ Bill ” Grotz , 66 , of Wayne .
In October 2019 , Bill and his wife
28 BACK TOSCHOOL 2023 WAYNE MAGAZINE