The Leni-Lenape Indians

The first human settlement of the area that is now New Jersey probably occurred about 10,500 BC, after glaciers that had covered the region retreated. The first culture, the Paleo-Indians, hunted mammoths and other prehistoric animals. They were followed in about 7000 BC by the Archaic culture; these people lived in the developing forests and depended on hunting deer and birds and gathering plants.

When European explorers come to South Jersey, the  area was inhabited by the Lenape Indians. The area in which they lived was called Lenapehoking and it included all of New Jersey ,  Eastern Pennsylvania , Southeastern  New York State , Northern Delaware  and a small part of Connecticut. The name "Lenape" means  common or ordinary people. The Lenape Indians were later referred to as the Delawares.

By all accounts, the Lenape people were gentle and sharing by nature. When European settlers came, the Lenape welcomed them warmly and instructed the settlers on survival techniques.

The Lenapes lived in small groups along the shores and rivers in wigwams and long houses. Primarily farmers, the Lenape supplemented their major crops of corn, squash, and beans with fish, wild game, berries, nuts, herbs, and roots. They made an important advance in agriculture by learning to use
ashes from burned trees as fertilizer.

They were very spiritual and believed that everything had a soul. Consequently, the Lenape respected all aspects of nature and would pray to the spirit of anything they used ( crops, animals, trees, stones). They would not carelessly kill anything. All parts of any animal that was killed would be used as much as possible. The bones, the  teeth, the skins, the muscles ,even the brains of the animals were used.

One spirit called the Mesingw was especially revered. The Mesingw or "Living Solid Face" was the guardian of the animals of the forest and it was his job to keep the animals healthy. In that way, the Lenape would have enough game to feed their families.

The Mesingw was so important that the Lenape would have a large gathering to celebrate its spirit. During this celebration, a mask painted 1/2 red and 1/2 black along with a fur skin  was worn by a Lenape Indian to invoke  the Mesingw's spirit. In that attire, he would then go  through the forest.

The Lenape people did not believe that the land could be owned by anyone. They were forced to give up living on the lands that were occupied by them for thousands of years when the colonists from Europe came to the area.

The coming of Europeans began the rapid decline of these native inhabitants. Many died of diseases introduced by whites. The remainder were forced from their ancestral homes by the white settlers' quest for land. The Lenape Indians moved west around 1758 and sold their remaining lands in New Jersey.