Middletown Township Public Library Presents: Lenape Heritage – Indigenous Peoples’ Storytelling

As part of its Community History Project, Middletown Township Public Library is hosting a series of lectures that explore the history of Middletown Township, Monmouth County, and New Jersey.

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Join Middletown Township Public Library for a discussion about the practice of Native American storytelling, an oral tradition passed down through generations. These narratives of legends and creation stories were used to record history and culture, and emphasize community and the connection between the past and present. Claire Garland, director of the Sand Hill Indian Historical Association, will talk about this aspect of Lenape heritage and share some of these stories.

The history of the Sand Hill Indians living on the northern shores of Monmouth County can be traced back to the 1700s. Due to land encroachment, Cherokee groups were gradually forced out of their homelands in Georgia. In the late 18th century, the Cherokee “Richardsons” migrated to New Jersey and New York to live with their Lenape cousins, the “Reveys”. The merging of these two tribes became the Sand Hill Indians, named for a hill on their 15-acre property in Asbury Park.

This lecture is part of the library’s Community History Project, and was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.