Fort Corchaug

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Fort Corchaug was a fortified Indian village on eastern Long Island in present-day Suffolk County , named after the Corchaug , a now extinct Indian tribe .

When the English explored the eastern island in the late 1630s, they came across an Indian fort in the thick forests . It was laid out in a rectangular shape, fastened with tree trunks and encompassed an area of ​​almost three acres (about 12,000 m²). Outside the fort were cultivated corn and bean fields. Some time after the arrival of the English settlers, the Corchaugs left the fort. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Downs family acquired the area and set up a farm there. It is almost a miracle that farm work did not destroy the traces of the old fort. In the summer of 1935, the archaeologist Ralph Solecki discovered the remains of the fort on the west side of Downs Creek . Solecki wrote his dissertation on the fort and came to the opinion that the Indians had built this facility with the help of the Europeans to protect against raids by the tribes from the mainland. During excavations at this site, Solecki found remnants of Dutch trade goods, which indicate that the fort was part of a fixed trading system through which wampum was delivered from Peconic Bay to the Dutch in New Amsterdam . In the opposite direction, Dutch goods came to the Corchaug.

The Corchaug Fort and 105 acres (0.425 km²) around it was bought by the Peconic Land Trust and turned into a study center for archaeologists and students. To date, only a little more than 10% of the area has been scientifically examined. In January 1974, Fort Corchaug was listed as a historic site on the National Register of Historic Places . In January 1999 it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Promise of Corchaug ( Memento from October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Fort Corchaug Archeological Site on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 19, 2019.
  3. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York. National Park Service , accessed August 19, 2019.

Web links

Coordinates: 41 ° 0 ′ 9.7 ″  N , 72 ° 29 ′ 55.5 ″  W.