Location:
Originally in 1600, the Delaware River Valley from Cape Hen opens, Delaware north to include the west side of the lower Hudson Valley in southern New York. The Delaware were not migratory and appear to have occupied their homeland for thousands of years before the coming of the Europeans. During the next three centuries, white settlement forced the Delaware to relocate at least twenty times. By 1900 they had lived in: Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma. However, a government plans to move some of the Delaware to Minnesota be never carried out.

Way of Life:
Men removed all facial hair and the women often colored their faces with red core. Tattooing was common to both sexes. Older men wore their hair long, but warriors usually had a scalp lock greased to stand erect. It was common to most of the eastern tribes. Len ape sachems wore only a single eagle feather and there was nothing that resembled the Sioux war bonnet. Clothing was made from deerskins, and decorated with shell beads or porcupine quills, feather mantels, and other ornaments. The Len ape used a lot of copper, which they obtained, from the western Great Lakes through trade. Hammered into ornaments, it was also fashioned into pipes and arrowheads. By 1750 the Len ape had become very stylish in their dress, favoring silver nose rings and clothing decorated with bright cloth purchased from European traders. There was no formal marriage ceremony, but the Len ape was usually monogamous.
Religious ceremonies were centered on a dedicated "big house." Dreams were considered very significant, so Len ape priests were divided into two classes: those who interpreted dreams and divined the future; and those dedicated to healing. The dead was buried in shallow graves, but method varied considerably: flexed, extended, individually, and sometimes groups. The Len ape believed in an afterlife, but without the Christian concept of heaven and hell - a source of considerable frustration for Moravian missionaries. Len ape was reluctant to tell their real name, and the use of nicknames was very common. The real name of Captain Pipe, the head of the Delaware Wolf clan in 1775 was Konieschquanoheel "maker of daylight." His nickname, however, was Hop can meaning "tobacco pipe" - hence his historical name of Captain Pipe.

Unique cultural Achievement:
the innovative design of an 18th Century flour mill that allowed Delaware to produce highly prized flour that was valued throughout the world. Despite its small size, Delaware became the nation's leader in a number of agricultural products and associated industries. The First State's corn, peaches, apples, strawberries, and fish helped feed a hungry nation. Canneries packed and preserved these precious commodities and shipped them around the world.
By the mid the nineteenth century, Delaware had become an industrial center. Walk through a period factory to explore Delaware's industrial products, including black powder, paper, ships, railroad cars, and wheels. Delaware's first bank was founded in 1795, but it wasn't until the 1980s that financial services became the industry it is today. See examples of Delaware's earliest money and the latest in electronic payment cards. Make an information withdraw from the HSD Bank's ITM (Information Teller Machine).