The History of LBI

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

Toni Morrison

Native American communities, to early settlements of whalers and fishermen, to resort communities, all LBI visitors have lived by the seasons and capriciousness of the sea. This is one thing that all the towns of LBI have in common. A respect for the Bay and sea goes back to olden times on LBI.

The history of LBI has always been tied to the ebb and flow of the surrounding waters. People have always been attracted to the sea. With tall cedars, large protective dunes, and fresh water from the Pineland aquifers, it’s no surprise that there is a long history of people coming to the Island.

The earliest visitors to Long Beach Island were the Native American Lenape. The Lenni Lenape were one of many nations belonging to the great Algonquins. Living mostly in the forests of western New Jersey, the Lenape were a migrating people. In the spring, they planted gardens in their home villages. In the summer, they traveled to the shore for fish, clams, and oysters. In the fall, they went back to their villages in the woods for the harvest.

Lenape trails crossed the state from the Delaware River to the Atlantic Ocean. The Lenape called this land Scheyechbi, which means longland-water. Small groups of Lenape lived here all year, but in the warm season, many thousand more would travel to the coast. They traveled from their inland forest homes toward the rising sun. Fish was an important part of their diet.

The coastal Lenape were called Unalachtigo— people who live by the ocean. They had awe and respect for the Ocean, which they called the big water where daylight appears, and considered it spiritual and sacred. The Lenape who lived along the coast, from the Mullica River north

The Turtle is an important symbol of Lenape spirituality. The Lenape creation myth maintains that Kishelemukong, the Creator, brought a turtle up from the ocean. It grew into an island (North America). The first men and women sprouted from a tree on the turtle’s back. A great serpent sent a flood across the land. The whole earth was submerged, but a few people survived. Honorable Lenape got to safety on the back of a giant turtle. The turtle swam to a spot of dry land.

original turtle that bore the world on its back. Like the turtle, to Manahawkin, were the Unami. Their totem symbol was the turtle. The Turtle was considered a great spirit.

The Lenape traded among themselves and with other tribes in the Northeast, through a system of barter. The principle means of barter was wampum, which largely consisted of ornamented handmade belts of crafted purple and white mollusk shells called quahog.

At the end of each summer, the Lenape gathered for Big Sea Day, a grand celebration, before returning to the mainland and their forests to the west. The Europeans discovered the allure of Long Beach Island in the early 1600s. By 1750, almost all the Lenape were gone from New Jersey.

In 1614, Dutch sea Captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey, on his ship the Fortuyn, happened upon the northern end of Long Beach Island. He encountered the very rough tides and dangerous shoals of the northern inlet. He named the area “Barende-gat” (Barnegat), inlet of the breakers. Captain Mey called the inlet at the southern end of the barrier island Eyre Haven (Egg Harbor).

The first European settlers were whalers and fishermen who set up temporary outposts around Barnegat Inlet. Later, whaling stations were established in the Great Swamp (Surf City) and Harvest Cedars (Harvey Cedars) areas. The whalers’ families soon made the Island their permanent home.