Mannahatta

NY Magazine had another article this week about what New York City looked like before the Europeans arrived, when it was known as Mannahatta:

• There was a deep fresh water lake downtown that was a main hub of native civilization. The lake was ultimately poisoned by the tanning industry and had to be drained by a canal (now Canal Street), after which the area turned into the slum neighborhood known as Five Points.
• The largest settlement of the Lenape Indians was in Inwood. Manhattan was used primarily as a summer residence.
• Here's a pdf showing the original borders of the island. Inhabitants would walk to what is now the Bronx by walking over "the Wading Place," near 220th Street and Broadway.
• Manhattan was almost a paradise, full of animal life (but not the wolves) and natural forest. Henry Hudson noted how suitable good the island was for ship-building.

I love this stuff and I'm not sure why. It's amazing to think that all the concrete and buildings that we all think of is new and, most likely, only temporary. It also helps to relieve those horrible, horrible kid's songs that have been stuck in my head since spending the weekend with my nieces. I don't know how Andrew can take it: