Delaware offers a rich tapestry of museums, historic sites, and community centers where visitors can delve into the stories, achievements, and ongoing traditions of the state’s Native American communities—especially the Lenape and Nanticoke peoples.
Nanticoke Indian Museum
The only Native American museum in Delaware and a National Historic Landmark, it houses thousands of authentic artifacts, ancient tools, artwork, traditional clothing, and living history displays, making it the most immersive place to learn about the Nanticoke and regional Indigenous cultures.
Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware
Serving as the community hub for Delaware’s Lenape, this center preserves, educates, and shares tribal history, culture, and current initiatives—an essential resource for understanding the Lenape’s ongoing presence in the state.
Iron Hill Museum
Situated on ancient Indigenous quarry sites, this museum’s exhibits feature Native American artifacts (like jasper arrowheads) and archaeological insights, showcasing the significance of Iron Hill to the Lenni-Lenape and other regional tribes.
Clyde Farm Site
This National Register-listed archaeological site offers a rare glimpse into prehistoric Native settlements, with evidence of pit houses, tool production, and ancient lifestyle—ideal for those interested in Native American archaeology.
Island Field Site
A major prehistoric Native American village and cemetery site in Kent County, Island Field offers a unique perspective on ancestral burial practices and village life along the Delaware Bay.
Queonemysing (Historic Lenape Village Site)
Believed to be an historic Lenape village and the site of a notable 1683 agreement with William Penn, this Brandywine Valley location enables visitors to connect with land where the Lenape lived for centuries.
Nanticoke Indian Powwow
Held annually, this vibrant state-recognized event welcomes all to experience Nanticoke (and intertribal) dance, music, craftwork, ancestral rituals, food, and storytelling in a living, celebratory context.
John Dickinson Plantation
This historic site includes interpretation of Indigenous history and the land’s occupation before European settlement, providing context for how Native peoples shaped Delaware’s early landscape.
Sources
[1] https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/nanticoke-museum.htm
[2] https://www.nanticokeindians.org/locations/nanticoke-indian-museum/
[3] https://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g34038-d208536-Reviews-Nanticoke_Indian_Museum-Millsboro_Delaware.html
[4] https://www.visitdelaware.com/listing/nanticoke-indian-museum/4392/
[5] http://www.lenapeindiantribeofdelaware.com
