Long before the first European explorers landed on New Jersey's Shores, the Native American people of the land were visiting the coast in the summers.
They traveled over ancient trails to reach to the shore. Various clans of the Leni-Lenape tribe would come to hunt and fish, or gather shellfish from the various bays, inlets, and the Atlantic Ocean. The Lenape would collect seashells from along the beach, then carve the shells into beads. They would string the beads together to make belts, sashes, and necklaces, which they called wampum. These wampum beads held cultural significance, and were later used as currency when trading with the newly arriving European colonists.
Dutch explorers arrived on the Jersey Shore in the 1600s, trading rum and guns with the Natives for pelts and furs. By the late 1600s, the English had taken over from the Dutch, establishing their concept of land ownership.
The Lenape had no way of knowing that they were trading their land away to the British, for mere trinkets. Disease and relocation would ultimately decimate the Lenape tribe along the Jersey Shore. Their words however, remain with us to this day, in the names of shore towns like Manasquan, Mantaloking, Absecon, Tuckahoe, and Manahawkin.
Music Credits:
Esther Abrami - The Day I Met Her
Hal Weaver - Lohilo
The Monk by The Sea - In November
ZoeKeating - Seven League Boots
Blue Dot Sessons_- Vengeful
Kevin Macleod_- Firesong
