Month: November 2023

Join the Ramapo-Munsee Lenape and the South Street Seaport Museum for a special Land and Water Acknowledgement Ceremony and engaging storytelling to honor the Native people of the region the Seaport Museum now calls home. Together, we will delve deeper into the history of the waterways that influenced New Amsterdam and get a deeper understanding of “Where New York Begins.” The free event will be held on Sunday, November 19, 2023, at 2pm, at 12 Fulton Street. southstreetseaportmuseum.org/lenapehoking

Ramapo-Munsee Lenape Tribal Leaders will give remarks and discuss the history of Lenapehoking, the Indigenous territory of the Canarsee and Manahatoos, who once cultivated and protected the lands that are now known as the South Street Seaport. The ceremony will include screening of the short film Silent Tribute, A Rainey Film & Media Production, and close with a traditional flute song.

Following the ceremony, Amy Martinez, Ramapo-Munsee Lenape tribal member, will present an Indigenous book reading of a work authored by a member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape.

A reception will follow the program. Registration is encouraged for this free event but walkups will be accommodated as possible.

Brief Indigenous Seaport History

This history is included in the South Street Seaport Museum Land Acknowledgement that will be dedicated by Ramapo-Munsee Lenape Tribal Leaders.

Although natives used tributaries as central highways through the middle of town, they were obligated to use the same rivers as boundaries with colonial land speculators, thus upsetting their own sense of relationship to the land. All headwaters were considered sacred-places where warfare were banned. Rivers and streams were the main forms of transportation. Canoers would take full advantage of the tides to conserve the (muscle and caloric) energy of the day.

An effective energy conserving practice was to hoist the canoe and all their gear over their heads and walk from one river…

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Native American group starts to reclaim land that once belonged to ancestors in NJ

Native American group starts to reclaim land that once belonged to ancestors in NJ 02:08

QUINTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) — A Native American group is reclaiming 63 acres of land in Salem County that once belonged to its ancestors.

The land is tucked away in the woods in Quinton Township, and it’s one of the few examples in New Jersey of Native Americans reclaiming their ancestral land.

Ty Gould Jacinto, who runs the Native American Advancement Corporation (NAAC), which now owns the land, said it originally belonged to the Cohanzick Lenape people before the arrival of European settlers.  

A South Carolina church eventually came to own the land and placed it for sale last year.  

With help from the state, and nonprofits, including the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Jacinto’s organization purchased the 63 acres, returning it to Indigenous ownership.  

“People will be able to come and work with this community and learn about the native plants and species that live here,” Rob Ferber, who works at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, said. “The greatest thing about it for me is the sense of peace that comes over me. It’s very calming here. It’s quiet.” 

The NAAC plans to turn the former church building into a cultural center and open the surrounding land up to the public as a nature reserve.

It’ll be called the Cohanzick Nature Reserve.

John Barry, who works at the NAAC, said they’ll use this land’s calming nature to teach Indigenous conservation practices and environmental stewardship.  

“Just to slow down and that there’s a place for you to slow down and hear nature,”…

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