TULPEHAKING NATURE CENTER

Project: A revitalization of the tulpehaking nature center, the primary access & interpretive hub of the abbott Marshlands & Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark

4,200 sq. ft.

Concept and Design Development Completed Spring 2021

FINAL Design Development Completed September 2022

The re-imagined Tulpehaking Nature Center will serve as the entry and interpretive core of the Abbott Marshlands, more than 3,000 acres of protected wetland habitats and archaeological sites stretching back thousands of years to some of the first peoples of North America. Designed to prompt new ways of thinking, host a wide range of hands-on programs, and provide tools for considering this complex landscape from multiple perspectives, the Nature Center celebrates the “curious explorer” in all of us. Three Curious Exploration Guides—a Lenape elder, 19th century naturalist Charles Abbott, and a modern-day environmental scientist—invite visitors to explore three “labs” and investigate the Marshlands through time. In the process, visitors discover that this wild space just beyond our urban world reveals a profound story about how the interaction between people and nature shapes the evolving landscape of life in and around the marsh.

Project Collaborators:

Mercer County Planning Division

Gecko Group

Handymakes Studio

Anthony Heinz may

HANDS ON! STUDIO

The exhibit spaces themselves will provide an exciting blend of activities, artifacts, interactive media and commissioned artworks that build a multifaceted impression of the marsh and its history. Updatable elements will bring the outdoors inside, and highlight the Abbott Marshlands’ ongoing efforts in both archaeology and environmental restoration in this sensitive, and increasingly threatened, oasis of nature amidst the press of urban development.