"NAN-tuh-coke~tidewater people." Baby T-Shirt

In the Nanticoke language 'echsup' means 'raccoon.' These Indians were close relatives of the Lenape and Munsee Indians. These tribes were never united into a single confederacy, but they all considered themselves Delaware Indians. The Delaware tribes traded regularly with all the other New England Indians, especially the Wampanoag and Mohicans, and they often fought with the powerful Iroquois Confederation. The Nanticoke enjoyed the best of native lifestyles. They were proficient farmers. By this time, Eastern Shore Indians were planting corn and beans, and drying them for later use. Women and children cared for lush gardens of corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, sunflowers, and tobacco. They gathered nuts, berries, birds' eggs, and edible plants in season. As they lived close to the rivers, in warmer months, they dined on delicious seafood, including clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, eels, and fish. Nets, snares, baskets, and spears were fashioned by the men to harvest the water's bounty.