Nearly 400 years after the alleged “sale of Manhattan,” a group of Lenape people are working to reawaken their cultural in the original territory where their ancestors thrived.
George Stonefish (Lenape, Turtle Clan) and his cousin Brent Stonefish (Lenape, Turtle Clan) have begun a group of other Lenape's to re-establish a Lenape presence in and around New York City, in particular around Prospect Park in Brooklyn at the Lefferts House.
The Dutch arrived in the 17th century in what is now known as New York City, early encounters with the indigenous peoples, known as the Lenape, were, at first, mostly friendly and transactional. They shared the land and traded guns, beads and wool for beaver furs. As the myth goes, the Dutch even “purchased” Manahatta island from the Lenape in 1626. The transaction, enforced by the eventual building of wall around New Amsterdam, marked the very beginning of the Lenape’s forced mass migration out of their homeland.
Today, Lenape communities are found in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ontario, and New Jersey.
