Shinnecock Indian Nation western Connecticut, the lower Hudson River Valley, through present-day New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Like the other Native peoples of Long Island, the Shinnecock made "wampumpeag" (wampum), shell beads strung onto threads that were used as currency, for record-keeping, for aesthetic purposes, and to symbolize a family. These shell beads have been found at Native American-inhabited sites as far west as the Rocky Mountains, showing their value in a trade. Although other New England tribes produced "wampumpeag", the Indians of Long Island are reputed to have made the best. Paumanac, one of the many names given to Long Island, means
Wampum, Pennsylvania of families and 17.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.9% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over. Wampum had its own school district called Wampum Public Schools from 1914-1962. The district also included students from nearby Chewton and, after 1954, New Beaver. Since 1962, children in Wampum proper and Chewton have attend Ellwood City Area School District, which is considered the legal successor to Wampum Public Schools due to state-mandated school consolidation in the 1960s. Due to a dispute with the former Big Beaver Township School District that had an