PENN TWP — The township is sending a collection of recently-discovered artifacts from Renfrew Park to the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, where they will be studied by anthropology and archaeology students.

According to township manager Mary Hess, the artifacts were uncovered by a construction crew during preliminary work on the replacement of the nearby Meridian Road bridge over Connoquenessing Creek. The items date as far back as the 19th century.

“They came away with 10,500 little pieces of stuff, which is in 55 boxes,” Hess said. “It ranges from the early 1800s all the way up to last year. There might be a little toy matchbox or a piece of pottery.”

Renfrew Park, according to township Supervisor Doug Roth, was built on land that used to belong to several homes. Roth theorized some of the items could have emerged from basements or crawl spaces of the now-demolished homes.

“Due to flooding, those homes were purchased by the state,” Roth said. “And then the land was turned over to the township and we couldn’t do anything with it except put a park there and that’s how Renfrew Park came about.”