Our historical heritage starts with the indigenous people of South Jersey.
The area of South Jersey was called Scheyechbi (Shay-ak-bee) and the people of the land have been called Scheyechbians.
Scheyech
Our historical heritage starts with the indigenous people of South Jersey.
The area of South Jersey was called Scheyechbi (Shay-ak-bee) and the people of the land have been called Scheyechbians.
Scheyechbi means "long land water." It refers to the southern peninsula of New Jersey surrounded by water. South Jersey is surrounded on three sides by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Scheyechbi were the Lenni-Lenape who were members of the Eastern Algonquian Confederacy. Three Lenni-Lenape tribes lived in New Jersey.
The Munsee or Minsi lived in Northern New Jersey. The name meant "people of the stony country."
The Unami (Oo-nah' me) lived along the lower Delaware River. Their name meant "the people down the river."
The third tribe was the Unalachtigo (Oo-nah-lahk' ti-go) or "the people who live near the ocean."
The Unami were the turtles. Their totem was the tortoise. This signified the tortoise was the progenitor of mankind and bore the world on its back.
The Unalachtigo were the turkeys. Their totem was the turkey, which signified the tribe as the people who live near the ocean. They lived from Rancocas south to Absegami (Atlantic City) and Cape May. They were skilled in fishing and opposed wars.
The first European settlers were ill-equipped and ill-provisioned to cope with the wilderness. The indigenous people taught them how to fish the waters and to preserve what was caught. The Unami and Unalachtigo taught the Europeans the use of maize. The early settlers also learned from the indigenous people what medicinal plants grew wild and how to treat wounds and maladies using those plants.
Usually in early June, after the women had planted maize, the Lenni-Lenape marched two or three days to a chosen spot at the seashore. They carried everything, because horses were unknown until the Europeans brought them. There, lodges of skins and cedar bark and boughs were built. Men went fishing, fowling and gathered eggs of the marsh hens and gulls. They also gathered mussels and other shellfish.
The women gathered materials and made circular beds of fire to cook food, to roast terrapin, clams and oysters. Mussel shells were converted into wampum. Wampum is derived from the Lenni-Lenape word meaning mussel. Beads were also made from shells, perforated and strung on leather.
During October, the Lenni-Lenape left the shore area. They carried dried shellfish, winkleshells for drinking cups and large shells for crockery pots. They also carried bundles of wild fowl back to their winter wigwams.
The wigwam, or longhouse, was rectangular with an arched roof. Saplings were driven into the ground two or three feet apart, outlining the size and shape. The slender sapling tops were bent and lashed together forming a vaulted roof. Other saplings were tied crosswise over the upright poles to make a secure framework. The sides were covered with large pieces of bark peeled from elm, chestnut or cedar trees. In the top was a hole to allow smoke to escape. Under this a fire was kept in place by a hearth of stones. Corn leaf mats were spread around the hearth and served as a table, chair or bed. The wigwam had two doors.
Wigwams were sometimes together in villages and located near water. Lenni-Lenape who lived along the creeks in Gloucester County were the Kagkakaini Sakins along Oldmans (Mosackas) Creek, the Narraticons along Raccoon Creek, the Manteses along Mantua Creek and the Armewamexes along Timber Creek. Billingsport was known as "Manteses Plain."
The Lenni-Lenape also enjoyed sports such as lacrosse. A type of football was played in which a skin filled with dried grass was used as the ball.
As colonists increased in New Jersey, the Lenni-Lenape decreased. In 1758, the 