Editing Treaty of Shackamaxon (section)

== Legacy and Commemoration ==

[[Penn Treaty Park]] in Fishtown commemorates the legendary treaty site. The park, established in 1893, occupies land along the Delaware River near where the Lenape village of Shackamaxon once stood. A monument marks the approximate location of the Treaty Elm, and the park's name perpetuates the memory of Penn's meeting with the Lenape. The park has been the site of commemorative events, including ceremonies marking anniversaries of the legendary treaty and efforts at reconciliation between descendants of colonists and indigenous peoples.<ref name="penntreaty">{{cite web |url=https://www.friendsofpenntreatypark.org/ |title=Friends of Penn Treaty Park |access-date=December 29, 2025}}</ref>

The Treaty of Shackamaxon, whatever its precise historical reality, remains powerful as a symbol of what colonial relations might have been. Penn's approach—grounded in Quaker beliefs about human equality and the wrongfulness of violence—offered an alternative to the brutality that characterized many European-indigenous encounters. That this approach ultimately failed to protect the Lenape from dispossession does not diminish its significance as an aspiration. The treaty continues to be invoked by those seeking more just relations between settler societies and indigenous peoples, a founding legend that points toward a better possibility, even if that possibility was never fully realized.<ref name="soderlund"/>