Ancient History, Part 2

Painting by John White, c. .1585-1587

Shortly after the ice sheet retreated, humans began arriving in this region. These ancient people relied on hunting to feed themselves and so may have been nomadic. Over the centuries, thick pine forests sprang up, and people began settling throughout what is now New York City. Anthropologists believe these early Americans may have been part of the larger Delaware tribe, called themselves Lenape, meaning “people” in their language. (Lenni Lenape, as they are sometimes called, means "common people.") The Lenape were divided into many groups that were identified by the names of the rivers where they settled. Thus the original inhabitants of areas near Windsor Terrace were known as the Gowanus and Werpos Indians.

Reginald Pelham Bolton, in his 1922 monograph Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis, noted that Brooklyn was a desireable location for native peoples. "Its fishing and hunting facilities must have been superior and were capable of supporting a numerous population," he noted, adding: "The extensive shell-beds which are found at certain parts of the shore-line indicate a long period of settlement."

"The tract composing the present borough, on the arrival of the white settlers was found to be largely timbered district, around the margin of which the native stations were planted. The timber, however, was scant in quantity, as a result of the native practice of annually burning off the underbrush, for the purpose of clearing spaces for cultivation and for the attraction of deer and smaller game. Large tracts of uplands were planted with corn, but the interior area was destitute of occupied stations, owing to the absence of watercourses. Compared with the large area of Kings county, the number of known stations is relatively small, and precise observations were not made in past times as to position and character...What is lacking, however, in regard to the native stations, is compensated by the existence of considerable definite information on the subject of native pathways. Records fortunately exist, by which the main Indian trails are identified with the King's highways and other old roadways which became the successors of native paths, so that their actual course is now traceable, and their systematic purpose becomes recognizable."