Editing Lenape Trails (section)

== Trail Networks ==

The Lenape trail system was not a single path but an interconnected network of routes that served different purposes and destinations. Major trails connected the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River, provided access to the interior hunting grounds of the Piedmont region, and linked the Philadelphia area to neighboring peoples including the Susquehannock to the west and various Lenape bands to the north and south. These routes followed the path of least resistance through the landscape, taking advantage of natural features such as river crossings, ridge lines, and passes through difficult terrain. The trails were typically narrow, as the Lenape traveled on foot rather than horseback (horses having been absent from North America since the Ice Age until European reintroduction).<ref name="wallace">{{cite book |last=Wallace |first=Paul A.W. |title=Indian Paths of Pennsylvania |year=1965 |publisher=Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |location=Harrisburg, PA}}</ref>

The precise routes of individual trails can be difficult to reconstruct, as the Lenape left no written records and the trails themselves have been obliterated by centuries of development. However, historians and archaeologists have pieced together the likely courses of major routes through a combination of early colonial maps, land surveys, archaeological evidence, and the alignment of early roads known to have followed indigenous paths. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has documented dozens of trails throughout the state, many of which passed through or near the Philadelphia region.<ref name="donehoo">{{cite book |last=Donehoo |first=George P. |title=A History of the Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania |year=1928 |publisher=Telegraph Press |location=Harrisburg, PA}}</ref>