The late Warren Siegmond collected arrowheads and other Indian artifacts since he was a child.

Born and raised in Palmerton, he walked the fields. On July 29, his widow, Jeannine, donated some of the items to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.

Siegmond added to his collection by attending artifact shows when he was older.

Pastor Paul Schoffstall of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Palmerton, helped sort what was called "tons of rocks," many of which are in the Siegmond backyard. They had been stored in boxes and drawers.

Schoffstall put aside what he thought was worth saving and had two experts, Lee Hallman of the Museum of Indian Culture, Salisbury Township, and Steven Fry of New Tripoli, look for local items.

Those were placed in a display case made of local red oak by Robert Reinhart and donated to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, Slatington.

Some were sent to other organizations. Others were sold.

Schoffstall said Warren was a creative person, a photographer by trade and he worked in television.

Jeannine said he walked the mountain in his youth picking blueberries for his mother to make blueberry pie.

Connie Reinhart said Warren was a good woodworker who made furniture among other things.

Schoffstall said he never had the privilege of going out with Warren but what he did was enjoy his collection of rocks.

When he was sorting the material he was told he better count what was there. There were 80 milk cartons, designed to hold 4 gallons of milk each.

Connie Reinhart was described as the "display artist" who decided how best to display the collection in the case.

Schoffstall said he has this idea a man's work shouldn't disappear.

"Palmerton is 100 years old and some of the artifacts are 10,000 years old," he said.

A few Warren Siegmond had were 15,000 year's old.

Nature Center Director Dan Kunkle said the items on display were all confirmed as local.

"Schoffstall is the one who got us all together," Kunkle said. "He came and talked to me. We needed a way to display the artifacts and he brought in Reinhart. It is a real team effort."

"This was a transportation corridor for the Indians," Kunkle said. "There were villages along the Aquashicola. We do try to interpret the past in both the natural and human history.

"Think of the craftsmanship they had to just survive and connect it to today's craftsmanship in the cabinet."

He then thanked Jeannine Siegmond who made the donation in her husband's memory, Reinhart for the cabinet and Pastor Schoffstall for bringing everything together to celebrate the past.