Northeast Region
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The Indian peoples of the Northeastern woodlands were the storybook Indians - "skulking" through the "dark thick forest," exploring the many lakes in birch-bark canoes, saving the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and trading furs for guns with the Europeans. The Northeast Woodlands Culture Area includes the New England colonies, such as New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, the Middle colonies, such as New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania, along with Maryland and Virginia. The Northeast Region is cold in winter, with deep snows, and often hot in summer. These colonies are located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. In this area, the primary rivers are the St. Lawrence, Hudson, Potomac and Delaware, which drain the Appalachian Mountains.
The Saint Lawrence River is most prominent in the Canadian provinces Ontario and Quebec, but it also flows through the state of New York. Currently, the Delaware River flows through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Relatively close to the Delaware River, the Hudson River flows through New York and New Jersey. A fourth river in the Northeast Region, the Potomac, flows through West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia.
The Northeast Region is lush with natural resources. Thick forests grow spruce, pine, birch, beech, oak, maples, hickory, elm, basswood, and ash trees. It was from these trees that the native people made an enormous variety of tools: houses, containers, canoes, bows and arrows, ritual and subsistence equipment. Birch bark was used to make highly durable but lightweight boats. From some of the trees came foods: nuts and fruits. The forests also were the habitat of much of the game hunted by the native peoples such as bear, wolf, fox, moose, deer, along with numerous smaller game animals, such as beaver, and birds.
The Saint Lawrence River is most prominent in the Canadian provinces Ontario and Quebec, but it also flows through the state of New York. Currently, the Delaware River flows through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Relatively close to the Delaware River, the Hudson River flows through New York and New Jersey. A fourth river in the Northeast Region, the Potomac, flows through West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia.
The Northeast Region is lush with natural resources. Thick forests grow spruce, pine, birch, beech, oak, maples, hickory, elm, basswood, and ash trees. It was from these trees that the native people made an enormous variety of tools: houses, containers, canoes, bows and arrows, ritual and subsistence equipment. Birch bark was used to make highly durable but lightweight boats. From some of the trees came foods: nuts and fruits. The forests also were the habitat of much of the game hunted by the native peoples such as bear, wolf, fox, moose, deer, along with numerous smaller game animals, such as beaver, and birds.
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Although not a primary source of food, some communities practice horticulture, cultivating maize, beans, and squash, and, in some areas, tobacco. Numerous wild foods were also harvested in a seasonal cycle: rice, maple sap, berries, nuts, onions, yellow waterlily roots.
During the planting season, people in coastal areas caught eel and other fish, and collected shellfish. Men stalked harbor seals near the shore, and larger fish were speared and netted from boats. Deer and other game animals also were hunted during this time. From the lakes, women and men took fish while along the ocean shores shellfish were regularly harvested. Special beads called wampum were made from shells found in the rivers, bays, and ocean. These precious beads were used as currency and patterned accessories.
Communities in this region varied from small villages of one or two houses to large towns encompassing several acres. Most people lived in either a wigwam or a longhouse. The term wigwam is an Algonquian word for house. The typical wigwam is circular or oval, made of a framework of saplings set in the ground, and bent over and tied at the top in a dome shape. Over this were laid slabs of birchbark and cattail-stalk mats. A doorway was left in one side and a smoke hole in the roof. Bark platforms around the sides of the interior were used as both seats and beds.
During the planting season, people in coastal areas caught eel and other fish, and collected shellfish. Men stalked harbor seals near the shore, and larger fish were speared and netted from boats. Deer and other game animals also were hunted during this time. From the lakes, women and men took fish while along the ocean shores shellfish were regularly harvested. Special beads called wampum were made from shells found in the rivers, bays, and ocean. These precious beads were used as currency and patterned accessories.
Communities in this region varied from small villages of one or two houses to large towns encompassing several acres. Most people lived in either a wigwam or a longhouse. The term wigwam is an Algonquian word for house. The typical wigwam is circular or oval, made of a framework of saplings set in the ground, and bent over and tied at the top in a dome shape. Over this were laid slabs of birchbark and cattail-stalk mats. A doorway was left in one side and a smoke hole in the roof. Bark platforms around the sides of the interior were used as both seats and beds.
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The longhouse is another characteristic home of this region. This style house is large and shelters many families. The longhouses are rectangular, twenty or thirty feet in both width and height, and between fifty to one hundred and fifty feet long. It was built of an arching pole framework covered with flat slabs of birch or elm bark. Extending down the center of the building was a row of fires, with a smoke hole over each. To the right and left of each fire was a room which was the home of one family. By accounts, the longhouses were smoky and noisy, but they were warm and waterproof to protect the residents from the harsh winters and seasonal rains.
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In the Northeast Region, the summers are hot but the winters are long, hard, and snowy. For these reasons, a combination of warm leggings and cooler breechclouths were worn by the Native Americans in this region. These garments were made of tanned deerskin and sewn together by dried sinew (thin tendons.) During the summer, men wore a breechcloth and moccasins. A belt around the waist held the foot-wide skin breechcloth in place. In winter, buckskin-fringed knee-length leggings and a fur robe were added to the ensemble. Much of the Northeastern clothing is decorated with small beads made from shells found in the rivers, lakes, and ocean.