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The Lenape tribe, also known as the Leni Lenape, were originally from what is now the state of Delaware. Their ancestors date back over 10,000 years, and occupied land from Canada down along the Northeast.

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Tappan Zee Bridge Renamed Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge

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Tappan Zee Bridge Renamed Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge

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The name change of this bridge is reflective of the Tappan tribe because the bridge was originally named to represent the history of the Tappan Native American sub-tribe of the Lenape. The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge was the original name given to it in 1955 upon the construction of the original bridge. There was a petition that circulated online at the time because people felt the name change was at the expense of the original history: Tappan natives and the Dutch settlers.

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This image illustrates how South Nyack eventually became the first main shipping point in the area. Abraham Tallman's successors maintained a dock here that was turned into the shipping point. South Nyack became an easily accessible point for people, and was also a great spot for selling commodities like food that was hunted and trapped there.

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Image of Nyack from guide book by William Wade, engraver, 1846

Image of Nyack by Basilio Q. Castaneda, 1947

The following was obtained from the book "Old Nyack", an illustrated historical sketch of Nyack-on-the-Hudson. It was published in 1928 to commemorate the Golden Anniversary of the Founding, in 1878, of the Nyack National Bank. Mr. George Budke and Mr. J.Elmer Christie are acknowledged for supplying the historical matter and many of the illustrations within the book.
When Hendrik Hudson first sailed up the noble stream that now bears his name, the level stretch of ground extending along the river from South Nyack to Upper Nyack was in the possession of the Tappan and Hackensack tribe of Indians. When, a little later, the white man came in contact with this tribe, they made a distinction between the Tappans and the Hackensacks; naming them according to the place in which they dwelt, but all the natives who inhabited what is now Bergen County, N.J. and the southern part of Rockland County, N.Y., were, in fact, fellow-tribesmen who held their lands in common, acted as a unit in making of war and of peace, and, at times, acknowledged the authority of a single over-ruling sachem.

The northern limit of the Tappans and Hackensacks, as near as can be determined, now, was marked by the Narachonk brook, flowing through Nanuet, the southern side of the Nyack swamp, and the mountain summits back of the Nyack line sweeping around to the river at the Hook. The Haverstraw, or Highland warriors came south as far as this boundary.

This partition arrangement was eminently fair to both tribes because it gave the Haverstraws the river shore from the Long Cove to the Dunderberg, while the Tappans and Hackensacks,-who were debarred from the river by the rampart of the Palisades-had access to tidal water from Piermont to the Hook Mountain.

The section of country lying between the river and the mountains, in the earliest intercourse between the white and red men, was called the "North End of Tappan," and no specific name was applied thereto until long afterward. The four or five miles of waterfront hedged in by the hills was the only place north of Fort Lee where the waters of the Hudson could easily be reached. It, therefore, naturally became a favorite spot for the encampment of the natives. Here, in early spring, they came from their retreats in the interior of the country, pinched and sometimes starved, by the rigors of winter. Here they gathered, as to a feast, when the Hudson had cast from her bosom her mantel of ice, and here, they found, in her waters, an abundance of the fish and oysters upon which they largely subsisted. And when the shad-bush, first of the spring-flowering shrubs, burst into snowy bloom, they knew that deprivation, for the year, was past, that the winter was over and gone, and that the shad, in inexhaustible numbers were running again.

The forest clad alcove in the hills at the "North End of Tappan," to which the Indians resorted every spring for the river fishing, attracted the notice of the Dutch farmers of New Amsterdam long before it would have been safe for any of them to live so far away from Manhattan Island. One Claus Jansen van Purmarent (whose descendants assumed the family name of Cooper), who had thrived in the cultivation of his plantation at Ahasymus on the New Jersey shore opposite New Amsterdam, was so taken with the advantageous location of these Indian lands, that he applied to Governor Phillip Carteret of New Jersey for a grant of the same, no doubt, having first bought the aborigines' rights, although no record of the purchase from the native owners has survived.

On April 16, 1671, two hundred and forty acres were patented to him, and November 20th, of the same year, four hundred acres adjoining the first parcel were, in like manner, conveyed to him by Governor Carteret. For the six hundred and forty acres bestowed upon him, Claus Jansen agreed to pay, annually, six bushels of merchantable winter wheat, as a quit rent to the government of East Jersey.

Claus Jansen sold one-fourth of the last mentioned four hundred acres of a Dutch neighbor by the name of Dowe Harmensen Tallman, who lived at Bergen (now Bergen Square on Jersey City Heights), and Tallman seems to have been the first to brave the wilderness and the redskins and take up his habitation on the heavily wooded slope overlooking the Tappan Zee. Tallman came, apparently, either in 1684, when his tract of land was laid out by the surveyors, or in the year following. In 1686, he was appointed the first Sheriff of Orange County. He built a mill on the stream that now flows beside Main Street, which then was called the Mil Brook.

Claus Jansen (Cooper) died at Ahasymus and was buried, November 30, 1688 from the Bergen Dutch Church. His eldest son, Cornelius Claussen Cooper, inherited his lands in Orange County and immediately settled what is now Upper Nyack. During the next few years, Cornelius Cooper, first by purchase of one hundred and fifty acres from Tunis Van Houten, to whom these acres had been patented, and secondly, by direct grant from government, acquired all the rest of the Nyack lands and thus became proprietor of all the river frontage from the Bight to the Hook, except the farm his father had sold to Dowe Tallman.

The name "Nyack" is of Indian origin and first appears in the Colonial records as the designation of a subtribe whose homelands were in that part of Brooklyn now known as Fort Hamilton. The Nyacks sold their lands to the Dutch and removed to Staten Island, but when, in 1670, Staten Island also passed out of Indian possession through the purchase, by Governor Frances Lovelace, of all the native rights, the Nyacks, together with all the other Staten Island savages, were compelled to seek fresh camping grounds west of the Hudson river.

Perhaps the Nyack braves with their families found a temporary abiding place on the flat land under the Hook Mountain (which in 1670 was still part of the public domain), and in that way, transferred their tribal appellation from Long Island to Nyack-on-the-Hudson. This explanation of the origin of the word Nyack as applied to the "North End of Tappan" is to be found in the registration of the marriage of Dirckie Tallman and Abraham Haring in the Tappan Dutch Church, June 25th, 1707. Following the entry of the bride's name in the marriage register, the clerk noted the fact that she had been "born at Nayack."

In 1793, Abraham H. Tallman sold a small plot of ground on the river side near the foot of the present Burd Street to a relative of the same name. Here the purchaser of his successors maintained a dock, which was Nyack's first public shipping point. Abraham H. Tallman held the remainder of the land he had inherited from his father until 1799 and then sold the entire tract, excepting only a lot of two and one-half acres surrounding the mill at the foot of the Main Street hill (near Franklin Street). Abraham Lydecker was the purchaser and he paid ($2,000) for the tract. Even his conveyance did not take the land entirely out of the family, for Lydecker had married Rebecca Tallman, a daughter of Abraham H. Tallman's brother.

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Image of Nyack from guide book by William Wade, engraver, 1846 Image of Nyack by Basilio Q. Castaneda, 1947 The following was obtained from the book "Old Nyack", an illustrated historical sketch of Nyack-on-the-Hudson. It was published in 1928 to commemorate the Golden Anniversary of the Founding, in 1878, of the Nyack National Bank.

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The Tappans, as well as the rest of the Lenape tribe, relied heavily on making the things they needed from the resources that were available around them. Soapstone was used for pipes because it is easy to carve and drill into. The Tappans used their pipes as a way of communicating with spirits of people or animals that have passed before them.

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The Hudson River, ranging from South Nyack all the way to what is now known as Fort Lee, New Jersey, was an extremely important spot for the Tappans. This location was their primary source of water, but was also a spot where they did most of their hunting and trapping as well. Additionally, the Hudson River served as a spot for the Tappans where they performed their some of their rituals including their healing, death, and burial rituals.

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The Hudson River Skywalk is a pedestrian walkway that connects Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site. These sites sit two miles apart, directly across the Hudson River, and are connected by the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

Olana State Historic Site
5720 State Route 9G
Hudson, NY 12534
518-828-0135

Thomas Cole National Historic Site
218 Spring Street
Catskill, NY 12414
518-943-7465

How to Travel Between Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site

From Olana to Thomas Cole: When exiting Olana, make a right onto Route 9G and follow signs to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Cross the Hudson River over The Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Make a left at the first light at the intersection of Route 23 and Spring Street (Route 385). The Thomas Cole Historic Site is immediately on the left. (Use the shared driveway with Temple Israel).

From Thomas Cole to Olana: Make a right onto Spring Street and bear right toward the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Cross the Hudson River and follow signs for Route 9G south. The entrance to Olana is ½ mile on the left.
By Train
Take Amtrak to the Hudson train station, which is two hours from New York City's Pennsylvania Station. A taxi stand is across the street from the Hudson station. Ask for the Thomas Cole Historic Site, 218 Spring Street, Catskill or Olana State Historic Site, 5720 State Route 9G, Hudson. The taxi ride is approximately ten minutes to either location.
By Car From New York City, Albany, Points East or West:
Take NYS Thruway (I-87) to exit 21 (Catskill). Make a left at the traffic light and follow signs for Route 23 East. Continue to the first traffic light. For the Thomas Cole House turn right onto Spring Street (Route 385). The Thomas Cole Historic Site on your immediate left. (Use the shared driveway with Temple Israel).

For Olana State Historic Site continue through the traffic light over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and follow signs for Route 9G south. Olana is ½ mile on the left.

Take the Taconic State Parkway north. Get off at the Hudson/Ancram exit, NYS Route 82. Head west on Route 82 (a right turn off the cloverleaf). In approximately 5 miles, Route 82 joins with NYS Route 23 - continue straight onto Route 23. Go another 5 miles.

For the Thomas Cole House continue over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and make a left at the traffic light onto Spring Street (Route 385). The Thomas Cole Historic Site on your immediate left. (Use the shared driveway with Temple Israel). For Olana State Historic Site at the intersection with the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, turn left onto Route 9G south. Olana is ½ mile on the left. Take the Massachusetts Turnpike to the NYS Thruway (Route 90 West) to exit 2B (Taconic Pkwy.) Take Taconic Parkway South to Route 23 West. Continue on Route 23 West.

For the Thomas Cole House cross the Hudson River over The Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Make a left at the first light at the intersection of Route 23 and Spring Street (Route 385). The Thomas Cole Historic Site is immediately on the left. (Use the shared driveway with Temple Israel).

For Olana State Historic Site at the intersection with the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, turn left onto Route 9G south. Olana is ½ mile on the left.

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The Hudson River Skywalk is a pedestrian walkway that connects Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site. These sites sit two miles apart, directly across the Hudson River, and are connected by the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.