The Original Knicks: A Dutch Story of Manhattan
Jalen Brunson Boulevard, Karl-Anthony Towns Square, Josh Hart Street—if Manhattan’s newest street signs are any indication, New Yorkers won’t be forgetting the Knicks championship team anytime soon. But can the same be said of the Dutch settlers who gave the Knicks their name? The New York Knickerbockers: intrepid traders who transformed Manaháhtaan—as the Lenape knew this island—into Nieuw Amsterdam, a cutthroat frontier where money was king; not so different from the Financial District that stands there today.
On this tour, we’ll trace the footprint of the original Dutch colony, uncovering the stories behind familiar landmarks, from Bowling Green to Broadway and Pearl Street; rediscovering Lenape trails; and building to a riveting climax: the British conquest and the contested "sale" of the island, which buried its Dutch roots as Nieuw Amsterdam and gave rise to New York.
This story comes to life through a cast of colonialists drawn from the far corners of the world: savvy merchants, enslaved laborers, fresh-faced lawmakers, sailors, and sex workers. (Some say the term "hookers" traces its origins to the women of Corlear’s Hook, a neighborhood now near the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. Sign up to learn how English got the word "cookies," too.) We’ll encounter one of New York’s most consequential figures, the famously inflexible Peter Stuyvesant, and unearth the foundations of the Stadt Huys—the colony’s first city hall and tavern.
In one afternoon, we’ll conjure the ghost of a Dutch frontier dream, still lingering in the city it sowed four centuries ago.