Friends of Wickers Creek Archaeological Site
New Book
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general.
Bristling with vibrant characters, Taking Manhattan reveals the founding of New York to be an invention, the result of creative negotiations that would blend the multiethnic, capitalistic society of New Amsterdam with the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery. The book draws from newly translated materials and illuminates neglected histories―of religious refugees, Indigenous tribes, and free and enslaved Africans.
Taking Manhattan tells the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism, a foundation from which America would rise. It also shows how the paradox of New York’s origins―boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement―reflects America’s promise and failure to this day. Russell Shorto, whose work has been described as “astonishing” (New York Times) and “literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune), has once again mined archival sources to offer a vibrant tale and a fresh and trenchant argument about American beginnings.
Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time
Hudson River Museum
This exhibit explores the nuanced layers of the past, present, and future within contemporary art by Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, and Métis artists. Tapping personal memory, ancestral artistic practices, history, and Indigenous Futurism, their works center intentionality, design, and materiality.
A Visual Journey of the Archaeological Dig . . .
Earth Day Letter
Originally published in The Rivertowns Enterprise, in April 2022
Friday April 22 is Earth Day. In the spirit of that event, Dobbs Ferry will be sponsoring a Village Clean Up on Saturday the 23rd. Watch for further information from the Village. There are several unsightly areas in the Village where trash needs to be removed as a citizen effort in the spirit of honoring the environment of our planet.
Friends of Wickers Creek Archaeological Site (FOWCAS) supports this important event. We are a volunteer organization dedicated to educating people to honor the memory of the Lenape people who originally lived throughout the Hudson Valley and who had a major chieftaincy in what is now Dobbs Ferry. Here they had the tribal name Weckquaesgeeks, which is said to be the origin of the name Wickers Creek, our tributary of the Hudson River. The creek starts deep in Dobbs Ferry. There is a north fork that begins as a spring in the Juhring estate and is piped under the Ardsley County Club golf course until it is daylighted west of Broadway down to the mouth of the Hudson. It is joined by a south fork that originates around Springhurst School and likewise passes under Broadway.
Hundreds of years ago, the Lenape harvested oysters and fish from the Hudson and farmed for other foods to sustain themselves. The oral history states that from across the river the glow of their fires burnt very bright in the night sky. A shell midden is what is left behind from their habitation around Wickers Creek. It is considered an important archaeological site. To learn more about the shell midden and the Lenape history in Dobbs Ferry please go to Village Hall . There you can visit an exhibit about an archaeological dig done at the shell midden. It will give you further information about the life of the Lenape here and why Wickers Creek is such a significant site.
To protect and keep the environment clean and healthy is basic to the Lenape culture. So Earth Day is the perfect time for FOWCAS to honor the plan to clean up the environment in Dobbs Ferry. Some of our members will be working to clean up the area around Wickers Creek. To find out more about FOWCAS and Wickers Creek please go to our website fowcas.org.
