Join the Ramapo-Munsee Lenape and the South Street Seaport Museum for a special Land and Water Acknowledgement Ceremony and engaging storytelling to honor the Native people of the region the Seaport Museum now calls home. Together, we will delve deeper into the history of the waterways that influenced New Amsterdam and get a deeper understanding of “Where New York Begins.” The free event will be held on Sunday, November 19, 2023, at 2pm, at 12 Fulton Street. southstreetseaportmuseum.org/lenapehoking
Ramapo-Munsee Lenape Tribal Leaders will give remarks and discuss the history of Lenapehoking, the Indigenous territory of the Canarsee and Manahatoos, who once cultivated and protected the lands that are now known as the South Street Seaport. The ceremony will include screening of the short film Silent Tribute, A Rainey Film & Media Production, and close with a traditional flute song.
Following the ceremony, Amy Martinez, Ramapo-Munsee Lenape tribal member, will present an Indigenous book reading of a work authored by a member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape.
A reception will follow the program. Registration is encouraged for this free event but walkups will be accommodated as possible.
Brief Indigenous Seaport History
This history is included in the South Street Seaport Museum Land Acknowledgement that will be dedicated by Ramapo-Munsee Lenape Tribal Leaders.
Although natives used tributaries as central highways through the middle of town, they were obligated to use the same rivers as boundaries with colonial land speculators, thus upsetting their own sense of relationship to the land. All headwaters were considered sacred-places where warfare were banned. Rivers and streams were the main forms of transportation. Canoers would take full advantage of the tides to conserve the (muscle and caloric) energy of the day.
An effective energy conserving practice was to hoist the canoe and all their gear over their heads and walk from one river to…

Vanessa Dion Fletcher,Aapáachiiw Return Home, 2022, digital prints. (Frank Piccolo/courtesy of Windsor Essex)

