What’s above 200th Street?


Manhattan ("hilly island" or possibly "place of intoxication") from the Algonquian languages of the earliest known inhabitants of the area*, now, has near its  Northern most tip, above Fort Lee, above the GW Bridge, above 200th Street, there are buildings just like lower on the island and this farm house, taken out of 1784, when it was built at about the time we united as states.  

The island was land of the Lenape Indians. In1524, the first European, Verrazzano past the harbor. In 1609 the island was found by Europeans. Henry Hudson working for a big European trading Co. mapped the island, dropping anchor near the Northern tip and then went on to explorer the big river. The Dutch (Netherlands) received the island from the indians in an amicable settlement. The deal,  involving at least several hundred dollars in todays money paid in usable supplies like, Kettles and axes, these goods being worth much more to the Lenapes,*** who also had no interest in a port or a fort. The Dutch built Fort Amsterdam in 1624, to protect their trading business in the area. The Brits captured it and nine years after the capture in 1673 lost it, the first time they lost a war in America. They  however did regain it soon and named it after the English Duke of York, later to be their king. Back then changing it’s European name was not such a big deal. They held it until the later 1700’s when after very poor management which was typical of English colonies the world over, a rebellion of those Europeans mostly from England themselves, gained most of the East Coast, United States.

William Dyckman arrived in New Amsterdam in the 1660’s. His ancestors built a farm house further North on the Harlem River. They returned after the Revolution against the English, during which time Northern Manhattan had been used by the royal troops. The Dyckman house was destroyed, they then built this house with a beautiful view looking over their 250 acer farm.

The little house was far away from the city and experienced the city moving in on it just like in the book, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, however rather than being moved back to farmland, the Dyckman house has been nicely restored complete with beautiful yard and is open for just a dollar to all of us, including the English. The style is, guess what ... Dutch colonial.
  
* http://www.manhattan.pro/manhattan_history/ , ** the bridge is at 179th St. which is no longer there. - google maps),
*** http://voices.yahoo.com/the-early-history-manhattan-island-734541.html​