Nyack Tract

A remnant of the Lenape population persisted until the late 17th century under English rule, maintaining a longhouse and paying rent to Cortelyou to occupy a fraction of their former land.

The Lenape people and their ancestors lived in the New York City area and wider Lenapehoking for thousands of years.

[3] A remnant of the Lenape population persisted until the late 18th century under English rule, maintaining a longhouse and paying rent to Cortelyou to occupy a fraction of their former land.

The Village of Fort Hamilton was subsequently founded by immigrant workers who did business with the army base, being originally known as "Irishtown".

Labadist missionary Jasper Danckaerts recorded a visit to a Nyack longhouse in 1679, giving a detailed, almost ethnographic account of life there: Continuing onward from there, we came to the plantation of the Najack Indians, which was planted with maize, or Turkish wheat.

We soon heard a noise of pounding, like thrashing, and went to the place whence it proceeded, and found there an old Indian woman busily employed beating Turkish beans out of the pods by means of a stick, which she did with astonishing force and dexterity.

Gerrit inquired of her, in the Indian language, which he spoke perfectly well, how old she was, and she answered eighty years; at which we were still more astonished that so old a woman should still have so much strength and courage to work as she did.

The top, or ridge of the roof was open about half a foot wide, from one end to the other, in order to let the smoke escape, in place of a chimney.