44 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



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 Blooming- 

 dale now called Cathedral Heights) for any relics that might have remained 

 from the Battle of Harlem, Mr. Calver discovered one arrow point at 1 L8tb 

 Street, east of Ninth Avenue, and immediately afterwards a circular hammer- 

 stone. On a later trip to the same locality, lie found a small grooved axe or 

 tomahawk. 1 In February, 1S90, while hunting for Revolutionary relics in 

 the vicinity of Fort Washington, he made a trip to the northern part of the 

 Island in search of British regimental 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 introduced to 

 Mr. James McGuey, a youth residing in the vicinity of 198th Street and 

 Kingsbridge Road. To Mr. Calver, Mr. McGuey presented several relics 

 found by himself on camp sites and made an appointment to meet him 

 early in March to explore for Indian remains. The same day, Mr. Pearce 

 took Mr. Calver to he introduced to Mr. Thomas Reefe who resided near 

 Kingsbridge Road and Isham Avenue, 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 

 pari of the Island for Indian remains. At the junction of Academy Street 

 and Prcscott Avenue, they found an Indian potsherd whose importance 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, now known as "the Knoll," 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 

 Aqueduct, hearing of these discoveries, obtained a permit from the property 

 owners and began to explore "the Knoll" for Indian remains. Having 

 finished here, he went to Cold Spring and made some further discoveries. 

 All his specimens were purchased in 1894 by the Museum, 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 excavation at this part of the Island are carried 

 on, more relics will probably come to light. An account of the recent finds 

 will be found in another part of this Guide, the time of this writing having 

 been L904. 



1 The writer found an arrowhead on South Field, in from of Columbia University Library, 

 on September 30, 1904. 



