Wildfire Rages in New York City in Locations Sacred to Lenape People

Photo: Inwood Hill Park, in the left of the photo and site of current wildfire in New York City. By Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, Wikimedia Commons

Tricia Shimamura, parks commissioner for the Borough of Manhattan, said that the wildfires in Inwood Hill Park threaten the sacred area of the Lenape people. (at 2:46 in the video)

Manhattan Island is the most paved-over city in North America, yet there is still enough unpaved land for wildfires to exist. One is blazing right now in Inwood Hill Park, on a rocky, wooded slope overlooking the Hudson River.

Manahatta is the Lenape name for the island. Shakropcock was the name for Inwood Hill Park, a patch of greenery on the northern tip of Manahata. Shakropcock was a village site prior to the European arrival. It offers high rocks that shelter the site from the high winds blowing across the water. The Dutch, however, chose to set up trading operations on the southern tip of Manahata, which is where the City of New Amsterdam, now New York, got its start.

‍FDNY Battles Wildfires in Manhattan and Queens

Fires in NYC YouTube

Source: Eyewitness News, ABC7