Pike County Historical Society to Host Presentation and Book Signing on Sunday January 21, 2024

Tocks Island: Dammed if You Do by David C. Pierce

The Delaware River dam’s defeat 13 years after its 1962 authorization by Congress and the 70,000-acre site’s conversion to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area will be the subject of a free program Sunday, Jan. 21 at The Columns Museum at 3pm in The Foundation Room.

Author David C. Pierce’s presentation is a well-documented journey through the trials and tribulations surrounding the Tocks Island Project.  At the conclusion of the presentation,  the author will happily sign copies of the book - which will be available for purchase.

Pierce, a retired journalist, moved to Stroudsburg in 1969, at age 14, as the contentious, sometimes bizarre, and often heart-wrenching story played out across Pike, Monroe and Northampton counties, Pennsylvania and Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey. Pierce describes the Tocks Island saga as the most volatile regional news story of the 20th Century.

For his book, Pierce interviewed people who lost their homes and businesses to forced government acquisition, reviewed decades of newspaper and magazine stories, and researched libraries, state and national archives, historical societies, and government property records and reports. He tracked down long-lost federal court documents and deed transfers at the National Archives that were never recorded in the counties where the property acquisitions took place.

Pierce looks forward to describing some of the twists and turns of Tocks Island and answering audience questions.