Indian tribes in Delaware get back homelands

Two Native American tribes in Delaware — with the help from an environmental group, a private funder and the state — are buying back land that was once part of their ancestral homelands.

The Nanticoke Indian tribe acquired 30 acres off John J. Williams Highway near Rosedale Beach in Millsboro this fall, and the Lenape Indian tribe is expected to close early next year on a deal for 11 acres near Fork Branch Nature Preserve in Dover. The land deals are partnerships between the individual tribes, the environmental nonprofit Conservation Fund, the state and a private conservation group called Mt. Cuba Center near Wilmington.

The lands will be held under conservation easements with the state so they can’t be developed into housing, according to officials with the Conservation Fund.

“There’s more to it than just buying a piece of property,” said Blaine Phillips, a senior vice president for the Conservation Fund who helped put together the deals. “It’s about restoring culture. It’s about honoring their ancestral rights.”

For the tribes, the deals are significant because the land was once part of their ancestral homelands and the plots sit near properties that have historical significance. Each of the tribes once had small schoolhouses for tribal members on lands near the newly acquired properties. Leaders of both the Nanticokes and Lenapes said they had tried for years to buy the parcels, but they either couldn’t make the deal come together or they didn’t have enough money. Tribal leaders said they’re grateful to be able to secure the properties, which have long been privately held.

Natosha Carmine — chief of the Nanticoke Indian tribe, which has about 400 enrolled members — said getting the land was significant because it “enables the Nanticoke to have a place to come together as a community and to build a stronger community.”

Known as the “People of the Tide Water,” the Nanticokes had their traditional homelands in the Chesapeake Bay area and Delaware, and traded beaver pelts with the English. The tribe said it had “first contact” with Capt. John Smith in 1608.

The tribe’s history tells of how they “cautiously watched Smith’s ship from the shore, climbing into the trees for a better look. When Smith approached the shore in a boat, the Nanticoke answered with arrows.”