History of Hudson County and Afine Old Village of Bergen

Histo ry of H U DSO N C O U NTY a n d af i‘ ne O L D VI LLAGE of B ERGEN $ ‘ llB E I N G a érief account o f the foundation an dgrowt/z o fwh at is n OwJ E RS E Y C I T Y an d o fth e many advantage; n o w Offe r e d the i n hab i tan ts th e r e o fin the newly constructedbuilding o fthe TR U ST CO M PAN Y ofN EW J E R S E Y J 3 Is sue d by le TRUST C O MPANY n Ew JERSEY e se C it N . J r y y , J R U M P A o N E W R Copy r igb t 1 9 2 1 by tb e T S T C O N Y f J E SEY ‘ ’ ‘ ’ Den noa S n mw d and Trinted b ARTLETT O RR PRESS gzo York g , g y B , N Too O ld Village of B e rge n d H ist o ry of Fi rst Se ttl e me n t in N e w J e rse y H E N the first representatives of the Amsterdam Licensed TradingWe s t I ndia Company built four houses on Manhattan Island in 1 6 1 0 6 2 I I , one could hardly consider the territory h cro wded . T ose ancestors of New York and N ew e rs e h J y , owever, had more spacious ideas — than are held by their apartment dwelling descendants . The charter of the Dutch East I ndia Company, which had granted the trading monopoly to its West I ndia Company, designated “ N e wN e the rland as co mp ris ing the unoccupied region between ” Virginia and Canada — a little tract that must forever inspire pained admiration in modern real estate dealers . I t was o n bounded approximately the south by the South River, as the Dutch called the stream that the English afterward re christened the Delaware . And because the Delaware was 60 South River, the river explored by Henry Hudson in I 9 , which first was called Mauritius River in honor of Maurice o f h ofNassau , Prince O range , came to be referred to as Nort River, which explains why we today call it Hudson River or North River, just as the words happen . Henry , we may suspect, always had remained a little disappointed , if not indignant, about that river . He had no 6 The HI S TORY o fH U D S ON COU N TY lc Commg oft be W/zite filer: o f genuine interest in rivers . He was one the many dreamers who for two centuries had been butting against the coast line , hoping for that rainbow thing , a passage to the golden East - I ndies . But the steady minded Dutch traders who followed f him thought very well o it . They saw it as a perfect water h highway to the fur country , giving t em almost direct access ' - o fie rin s to the fur trading I ndian tribes of Canada , whose g passed from hand to hand down to Albany, while all along the banks could be gathered the almost equally rich tribute from the fur lands of Adirondacks and Catskills . Its . beauty, too , was loved by the Dutch Dutch commercial instinct, Dutch thrift, never made the Dutchmen dull to the ‘ clifls good art of living . They loved the straight wild of the - Palisades . They loved the squall darkened broad reach h h $ S t at t ey named the Tappan e e . They loved the weet and o fthe OLD VILLAGE o fB E RGE N 7 om the M a b H w a e H s t rt me Fr ur l y o rd Pyl , ud on Couny Cou Ho tranquility of the vastly stretching sea meadows at its mouth , where flowed the rivers Hackensack and Passaic, the deep o f sound the Kill von Kull , and many pleasant little streams that have been filled in long ago and are covered now by streets and towns . o u t They looked from their New Amsterdam , and despite o f e all ample Manhattan Island north them , the western shor — invited prettily . I ts river mouths and undul ating sea grass plains and shining sleepy coves reminded them Of home . Men who had come so far were not men to sit down and sink root in one little spot . The performances of Captains Hen drick Christeen and Adrien Blok are recommended earnestly to the attention o fthose who imagine that the Dutchman is a large body that moves slowly . Adrien Blok sailed from 1 6 1 . Holland in 1 6 1 4 . He arrived at Manhattan Island in 4 8 The HI STORY o fHUD S ON COUNTY 1 His ship was destroyed there by fire in 1 6 4. and he built hims an f n elf o the r in I 6 I 4 . Their handfu l o me built those four houses , and for good measure a fort, Fort Amsterdam , on the land above what later was known as Castle Garden , and S o f now is the ite the Aquarium . They sailed up the North o n River and established a trading post, Fort O range , an island below Albany . They sailed through Hell Gate , which even now is no place for timid navigators , though it is not - the one tenth as dangerous as it was then . They explored whole great Long Island Sound to Cape C o d. They looked thoroughly into that tract which afterward became the Rhode Island Plantations . They investigated the Connecticut River . And they started the opening up OfN e wJ e rs e y by establishing atrading post on the we s t side ofthe North Rive ro p p o s ite lo we r n Manhattan , followi g it some years later with a small redoubt . They might have left records as romantic as the narrative of Captain John Smith , for they explored and traded every where , from Cape Cod to the Delaware . But they were not f o . men the pen We are not sure even of their exact names . The few scattered records refer with generous freedom to C hris tae n Adrien Blok , Adrian Block , H endrik , Hendrick r h n n C h is tian s e and Hendrick C ris ta s e . The best people in h t at time were more than liberal in spelling, and many of the most important o fiicialdocuments have a sprightly way of f ifle re n giving two or more quite d t spellings to the same name . All around the handful of Europeans were I ndians . Sea coast I ndians came in canoes through the marsh thorough fares and from the high lands beyond the Raritan . Warrior I ndians came down the river in war canoes from their forests , and o fthe OLD VI L LAGE o fB E RGE N 9 E — From an Old Print W E E ? ’ o s M 111 ate ear w hat 15 now t he e o mo t St eet and Ra oa A v e e Pri r , loc d n Corn r f Fre n r ilr d nu where they were well accustomed to contest the hunting rights Fo r with other tribes . a long time there was little strife between them and the Dutch . The men of Holland were sharp traders , but they were n o t robbers o r tyrants . From the very first they o f s o h purchased instead taking , and , t ough Indian wars finally no t came into even their quiet history, they were wars caused by attempt to snatch lands o r other possessions from their savage neighbors . They left the I ndians to live their own free life , and the z red men were well satisfied to exchange their furs , mai e and tobacco for the strange and tempting goods that had been brought across the great salt water . The Dutchmen smoked v their long pipes in peace , culti ated tulips in the alien soil , drank their aromatic Hollands in taverns that were Holland I O The HI S TORY o fHUD S ON COUNTY I n the old Dutch Days transplanted, and walked forth in untroubled dignity with enormous guns to shoot the wild fowl whose wraithlike flights filled that sky which n o w is filled by wraiths Of sm o ke from Sandy Hook to the Highlands o fthe Hudson . During the next few years the silence o ftheir bay was bro ken an no n h at rare intervals by a c s o t below the narrows . Then all New Amsterdam gathered at the Battery and watched fo r wide — a S sails over a wide ship hip almost as wide as long , but in all dimensi o ns so small that we o ftoday would think it no small o n o f adventure to make a mere coasting voyage her . Out the ship would come arrivals from Holland in wide breeches and n f. noble Dutch hats , solid as the Dutch ation itsel The passenger lists Of these occasional ships could find o o n o f i ro m small scraps paper, yet the p oneers plainly felt o f that there was too much pressure population , for only a few and o fthe OLD VILLAGE o fB E RGE N I I m the Illuralb How a e H so o t t Ho se Fro y rd Py l , ud n C uny Cour u years afte rAdrie n Blok built the first four dwellings some New Amsterdammers moved over the river .

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