Woods and Water
Shad
Shadbush (or serviceberry) blooms greet the spring run of shad, a migratory fish loved by the Esopus, who ate them fresh and dried. European colonists also got the taste for this sweet-fleshed fish: Lenape people sometimes sold shad door to door, where Europeans bought and cleaned them, discarding at the doorstep hundreds of their tiny bones that are still found by archaeologists today.
As "river people," Esopus communities centered on the Hudson River and its tributaries. Engraver Alexander Anderson, working in New York City, represented them and others in images that likely reference what is currently Ulster and Sullivan counties.
Oysters
Mounds of oyster shells along the Hudson mark Lenape harvest sites. Along with clams and mussels, Lenape people dried oysters on racks for the winter and traded them widely. An ancient human food, oysters are also loved by Europeans and West and West Central Africans. Europeans served them with imported lemons to aid digestion, while West and West Central Africans cooked them with peppers—flavor pairings that survive today.
Deer
Meat, sinew for sewing a warm hide, tail hair for ornamentation, hooves for rattles and glue, bone and antler for tools—white-tailed deer provided all of these and more. Esopus people used fire to aid in the hunt, clearing forest brush and driving deer and other game to slaughter. Deer meat was a banquet centerpiece for Europeans and Esopus alike, and also appeared in stews, sausages, and jerky.
Delaware Tribe of Indians citizen cutting elk meat.
Pigs
Pigs were polarizing. Introduced by Europeans who let them loose to forage in the woods, pigs tore up Esopus gardens and gathering spots. In the early years of colonization, Esopus people saw free-running animals as fair game, and sometimes shot a settler’s hog. These disputes often led to court charges and violent conflicts between European and Indigenous peoples. As time went on, the Esopus acquired a taste for pork, visiting farms at butchering time to select bits unwanted by Europeans. Eventually, they began to keep their own hogs.