The trees grew to 100 to 150 feet tall. Their canopies shut out the daylight beneath them.
So dense was the original forest, "tekene" in the Unami dialect of Lenape, it was mythologized, that a squirrel might travel from Maine to Florida without touching the ground.
Gabriel Thomas, An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania, 1698
Because of the sheer size and girth of the trees, and the plentiful resources that teemed beneath them, the early Colonial settlers described the land as being an untouched, virgin forest.
Cultivating The Lenape Landscape
However what the colonists attributed to the handy work of nature, was a carefully cultivated landscape by the Lenape, sculpted with intention and thoughtfulness.
"The Trees of the Country...upon the mast and fruit wherof the deer, swine, wild turkeys ...do feed; which make the Venison, Pork, Turkies and Fowl extraordinary Fat and Good: all of which this Province affords in great plenty."
A Description from A Mapp of New Jersey in America 1678 by John Seller.
Evidence of this cultivation can be discovered by reading between the lines of the early accounts.
It is because the Lenape regularly tended the understory that settlers found that "A Cart or a Wain may go through the middle of the Woods, between the Trees without getting any damage"
Gabriel Thomas "An historical and geographical account of the province and country of Pensilvania : and of West-New-Jersey in America.", 1698
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Tekene-Trees
The Lenape landscape featured many of these heavily wooded, widely spaced trees with clear understories.
Trees Indigenous to Pennsylvania and New Jersey
- Opimenshi-Chestnut Tree
- Tukwimenshi-Black Walnut Tree
- Shimenshi-Hickory Tree
- Ketamunshi-Hazelnut Tree
- Telalakw-White Cedar Tree
- Onaxkwimenshi-Oak Tree
- Kuwe-Pine Tree
- Okhatimenshi-Mulberry Tree
- Mixakanakw-Ash Tree
- Ansikemes-Maple Tree
- Muxulhemenshi-Tulip Tree
- Xaxakw-Sycamore Tree
- Nushemakw--Willow Tree
The Lenape favored nut bearing trees. They cultivated the woods by clearing debris with biannual burns as well as girdling less favorable trees to make room for nut trees. This allowed them to maximize nut yields, one of their primary forms of sustenance. Other trees were tapped to make syrup or prized for their bark to clad homes of trunks to construct canoes.
Nuts
The mast, pile of nuts beneath the trees, offered sustenance for the Lenape but also for deer, turkeys, rabbits, and bears. By cultivating nut trees, the Lenape were able to ensure there was enough food for the animals and birds which they hunted for game, bones, fur, and feathers.
Mehemawensink--Berries
Berries and fruits were plentiful and diverse. They were gathered seasonally throughout the year. The cultivation of fruit was also improved by burns which nurtured the soil, and would increase the harvest in the year right after a fire.
Otaesak-Flowers
Spring wildflowers were widespread and abundant. They were nurtured by sunlight for about eight weeks before the forest trees leafed out fully closing out the suns rays to the ground below.
Flowers Indigenous to Pennsylvania and New Jersey
- Chixamokanatae-Cone Flower
- Anshikemenshi-Yarrow
- Mpianaxkwim-Water Lily
- Matapipalinko- Cardinal Flower
- Winkimakwsko-Bee Balm
- Lehelokwenateek-Jimson Weed
- Chakinkwem-Pokeweed
- Wisaotaek-Goldenrod
- Mahkhalapis-Milkweed
Flowers were used for medicinal purposes. Cone Flowers were good for acne and golden rod for insect stings.
Plants requiring sun throughout the summer season grew in meadows and along riparian streams. Openings for these flowers were created in the thick forest through girdling of trees and controlled burns.
Hatusakana-Herbs
The ash resulting from fire was nutrient-rich, offering many plants the ability to grow healthy and fast, and some of the plants that came back after a burn were medicinal plants with important healing properties.
Herbs Indigenous to Pennsylvania and New Jersey
- Winakw-Sassafras
- Kelekenikanakw-Sumac
- Sakes-Burdock
- Ahpawi-Cattail
- Halahpis-Hemp
- Mukotae-Mistletoe
- Kwshatay-Tobacco
Herbs were used for food and medicine. Sassafras could reduce a fever and cattails were eaten like corn on the cob or grounds into flour.
Ehaskanatisichik-Vegetables
Each Lenape village had several plantations for corn, squash and beans on their outskirts, providing 2-3 acres per family. Fields were cleared by means of girdling trees. Brush was removed by hand.
Corn and squash were sown in April. Small heaps of soil were formed in the field about 2 1/2 feet apart, with five or six grains planted in each heap. In the middle of May, the Lenape planted three or four beans in each heap beneath the new corn stalk. The beans vines would grow up the stalk and the squash leaves would cover the ground protecting the plants from sun and weather.
Walk Softly on the Earth
Lenape Family, by Lindestrom, 1680, colored pencil on paper, Courtesy of the De La Gardie School, Lidkoping, Swede
The definition of "environment" is the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded. The Lenape have no word for "environment" as they do not distinguish a line between who they are, and all that surrounds them.
The Lenape believe all life forms whether they are, "the winged, the four legged, the creepy crawlies or the two legged" are equals and must share the land and the resources.
The Lenape conscientiously renewed the landscape. Villages were moved every twenty year or so that the land could rejuvenate. Corn fields were left after ten years of cultivation, to rest the soil. In ten years, saplings rose up and in 75 years the canopies were fully restored.
Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova, 1635 by Willem Janszoon ( a map showing what would become New Jersey and New york)
Everything the Lenape do in life is tied into spirit, including the hunting and gathering that they do. It is all done with respect.
Tenants of the Lenape Way of Life
When gathering they never take the first plant. To that plant they give thanks.
They never take to excess ensuring the propagation of plants for other animals and future generations.
They consume every usable part of a plant or animal to ensure that in taking a life nothing goes to waste.
They walk softly on the earth, moving their villages and plantations to ensure the land has time to renew itself.
May we all Learn to Live in Harmony with the Land
Many thanks to Shelley DePaul from the Lenape Nation Of Pennsylvania for her Lenape Language classes, without which this blog would not be possible.
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