Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey

The area was created when a chain of volcanic islands collided with the North American plate. The islands went over the North American plate and created the highlands of New Jersey. Then around 450 million years ago, a small continent collided with proto North America and created folding and faulting in western New Jersey and the southern Appalachians. When the African plate separated from North America, this created an aborted rift system or half-graben. The land lowered between the Ramapo fault in western Parsippany and the fault that was west of Paterson. The Wisconsin Glacier covered area from 21,000 to 13,000 BC. When the glacier melted due to climate change, Lake Passaic was formed, covering all of what is now Lake Hiawatha. Lake Passaic slowly drained and much of the area is swamps or low-lying meadows such as Troy Meadows. The Rockaway River flows over the Ramapo fault in Boonton and then flows along the northwestern edge of Lake Hiawatha. In this area, there are swamps near the river or in the area.

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Lake Hiawatha include:

• Hector A. Cafferata, Jr. (born 1929), United States Marine awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic service at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.[4]
• Bobby Darin (1936–1973), singer. He owned a house in Lake Hiawatha, purchased with income from his rock and roll hit Dream Lover. His sister lived there, and he crashed when he was in the area. Later his sister revealed that she was actually his mother.[5]