A thousand years before Columbus, the area that is now New York City was a thriving paradise, hilly and green, lush with forests and wildlife, inhabited by the Lenape Indians. In many respects, this Algonquian tribe created the template by which the city was designed: Broadway, which followed the high ridge of the island, was the Mohecan Trail; Routes 80 and 78 out of the city are both ancient pilgrimage trails. Greenwich was an actual Indian village that stood on the banks of Manetta Creek, whose waters, named for a legendary monster, still run beneath the city. Contemporary New Yorkers' footsteps -- and their subways, ferries, and bridges -- trace many of the identical paths the Lenape used.
"Native New Yorkers" is the first book to detail the history, culture, religion and language of the real Native New Yorkers. Drawing on a wide range of historical sources as well as extensive interviews with living Algonquin elders, "Native New Yorkers" offers a comprehensive and fascinating account of the graceful Algonquian civilization that once flourished in the area that is now New York.
