If you have driven or walked by the Ciavarelli Family Funeral Home on the 500 block of Fayette Street recently, you probably noticed two new wood carvings. The carvings were done from trees that needed to be taken down. One is of an eagle and is a tribute to the nation’s veterans. The second one, which is not completed yet, is of a Native American. The statue of the Native American is being donated to the Borough of Conshohocken and will be displayed in the new borough hall at West 4th Avenue and Fayette Street.

Why a Native American? Conshohocken’s seal (see above) features a Native American, which represents the people who originally inhabited the Conshohocken area. According to Wikipedia, “The name ‘Conshohocken’ is Unami-Lenapi (Delaware Indian) for either Kanshi’hak’ing, or “Elegant-ground- place” or, more likely, Chottschinschu’hak’ing, which means “Big-trough-ground-place” or “Large-bowl-ground-place” to denote the big bend in the Tulpe’hanna (Turtle River, or modern Schuylkill River).” The Wikipedia article states a Lenapi-English Dictionary is the source of the translation.