Positively New Jersey: The story of a people whose obscured history has come to the forefront

Last month, in what is described as "a monumental step toward preserving this ancestral homeland," 63 acres of land were returned to Cohanzick stewardship in the form of a new nature reserve. Cohanzick Lenape

Oct 3, 2023, 2:32 AM

Updated 230 days ago

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Centuries before Europeans arrived in what is now New Jersey, the Cohanzick Lenape people lived in the area around what is now Salem County.
Last month, in what is described as "a monumental step toward preserving this ancestral homeland," 63 acres of land were returned to Cohanzick stewardship in the form of a new nature reserve.
On a walk through the woods there last week, Tyrese Gould Jacinto CEO of the Native American Advancement Corporation, the nonprofit organization that acquired the land, said she could feel her ancestors' history in the land.
"You had people who lived here died here, gave birth here " she said. "Their bones are here their dust is here. Everything is here."
On tonight's "Brian's Positively New Jersey," News 12's Brian Donohue walks the trails with Jacinto and tells the story of a people whose history has long been obscured but is now coming to life in historic fashion.


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