The land of lower Manhattan — before the first Dutch settlers arrived.

Greene Street

Map: Sanderson E. W. (2009). Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City. New York: Abrams, 162-163.

Greene Street

Minetta
(4 wigwams, 15 people)

Nehtone

Werpoes
(3 longhouses, 6 wigwams, 100 people)

Manahatta, the "hilly island," is the land of the Lenape people. The Greene Street block was near a cluster of Lenape settlements, as well as a system of trails that stretched as far north as Massachusetts.

Map: GIS Digital Elevation Map (DEM), Welikia Project; with Lenape info from Sanderson E. W. (2009). Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City. New York: Abrams, 107.

Before the city, the Greene Street area was home to hawks, beavers, salamanders, snapping turtles, flying squirrels, bobcats, mountain lions, gray wolves, and black bears.

Long before Greene Street, the land was a place of rich forests and marshes.