The Tappan were a Lenape people who inhabited the region radiating from Hudson Palisades and New York – New Jersey Highlands at the time of European colonialization in the 17th century.

[1][2] The exonym Tappan is likely a derivation of a word or phrase from the Algonquian language Lenape as used by settlers to New Netherland, who spelled it as Tappaen.

The Tappan migrated seasonally and engaged in companion planting, hunting, fishing, and trapping.

Like the other natives who circulated in the region and whose territory overlapped, the Hackensack, Acquackanonk and Rumachenanck (later called the Haverstraw).

It is from them that David de Vries purchased the land (1640) to build the homestead at Vriessendael (Edgewater) and, living among them, became an advocate of learning more about indigenous culture.