INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND 



43 



Calver of this city, and has led to the 

 discovery of much valuable material 

 which has been preserved. 1 



The following account of the work 

 is taken mainly from Mr. Calver 's 

 note-book : 



In the autumn of the year 1889, 

 while exploring the heights of Bloom- 

 ingdale (now called Cathedral Heights) 

 for any relics that might have remained 

 from the Battle of Harlem, Mr. 

 Calver discovered one arrow point at 

 118th Street, east of Ninth Avenue, 

 and immediately afterwards a circular 

 hammerstone. On a later trip to the 

 same locality, he found a small grooved 

 axe or tomahawk. In February, 1890, 

 while hunting for Revolutionary rel- 

 ics in the vicinity of Fort Washington, 

 he made a trip to the northern part of 

 the island in search of British regimen- 

 tal buttons, many of which were said 

 to have been found in that vicinity. 

 There he met an old acquaintance, Mr. 

 John Pearce, a policeman then on 

 duty there, by whom he was intro- 

 duced to Mr. James McGuey, a youth 

 residing in the vicinity of 198th Street 

 and Kingsbridge Road and, while 

 crossing the orchard at Academy Street 

 and Seaman Avenue, Mr. Calver saw 

 that the ground was thickly strewn 

 with shells which afterwards proved 

 to be of Indian origin. 



The first Sunday in March, Messrs. 

 Calver and McGuey explored this 

 part of the Island for Indian 

 remains. At the junction of 



1 In the Spring of 1890 Mr. Edward Hagaman 

 Hall began his investigations and at about the 

 same time Mr. Reginald PelhamBolton entered the 

 field of local research. In many instances these 

 gentlemen and Mr. W. L. Calver collaborated with 

 valuable results. In the preservation of the traces 

 of Indian occupation of Manhattan Island the 

 American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society 

 (formed in 1895 under the presidency of the late 

 Hon. Andrew H. Green, but now under that of Dr. 

 George Frederick Kunz) has done much pioneer 

 work. 



Academy Street and Prescott Avenue, 

 they found an Indian potsherd the 

 importance of which Mr. McGuey 

 seemed to realize, for, a week later, 

 Mr. Calver met him again and was 

 presented by him with a number of 

 fragments of Indian ware. He assured 

 Mr. Calver that he had found it by 

 digging in an Indian graveyard. The 

 two men dug again at this place, and 

 found more pottery. They then went 

 to Cold Spring, a point on the extreme 

 northern end of the Island, and in a 

 shell-heap there they found more 

 Indian work. Mr. Alexander C. 

 Chenoweth an engineer, then on the 

 Croton Aqueducts, hearing of these 

 discoveries, obtained a permit from 

 the property owners and began to ex- 

 plore "The Knoll," at Dyckman 

 Street and Broadway, for Indian re- 

 mains. After having finished here, 

 he went to Cold Spring and made some 

 further discoveries. All his specimens 

 were purchased in 1894 by the Mu- 

 seum, and some of them are now on 

 exhibition. 



Since this time, several interesting 

 relics have been found and, as the 

 work of grading streets and other ex- 

 cavation at this part of the Island are 

 carried on, more relics will probably 

 come to light. 



The only Indian remains left on the 

 Island so far as known to the writer, 

 are situated at the extreme northern 

 end at Inwood and Cold Spring. 

 They consist of the so-called shell- 

 heaps or refuse piles from Indian 

 camps, and three rock-shelters at 

 Cold Spring. But we have evidence 

 to show that this was not the only 

 part of the Island occupied by the 

 Indians. Mrs. Lamb 1 says that the 



1 History of New York City, p. 36. 



