Red Hook Natives

 

For very brief information about the Mohicans, Wappingers, and Henry Hudson, visit these Wikipedia pages:
Mohicans
Wappingers
Henry Hudson

This is a a brief but moving news clip showing the few elders who still speak the Wappinger language, Munsee, and a younger person trying document as much as she can and learn it herself: More than words: Can Canada's dying languages be saved?

For more detailed information, but still at an overview level:

  • There's a very good article by Steve Hopkins in the Hudson Valley Chronic entitled Indian Winter, The story of Native Americans in Dutchess County, though it does at times rely on the work of EM Ruttenber, whose books have many inaccuracies.

  • There's a wonderful Brief History of the Mohicans on the Mohican Tribal website

  • The First Nations website has very good and more extensive information on both the Mohicans and Wappingers, though it doesn't provide citations:

    Wappinger History
    Mohican History

  • You can learn a lot about the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians by reading (and subscribing to!) the twice-a-month newspaper, Mohican News, which is available online.

  • And there is also a lot of info on the tribe’s website, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.

  • There are many books and websites dedicated to Henry Hudson that a visit to your local library or a quick search online can turn up.

For much more detailed information about the Mohicans and Indians in the northeast in general:

  • Native People in Red Hook is a 20-page document by the creator of this website specifically addressing the question of which Indians lived in what is today Red Hook

  • The Mohicans and Their Land 1609-1730 and The Mohican World, 1680-1750, by Shirley Dunn, 1994 and 2000, respectively

  • The Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 15, The Northeast, Edited by Bruce G Trigger, 1978. This book is a bit outdated but is still a mainstay.

  • I don't know of any books that focus specifically on the Wappingers.

For more information about Red Hook and Rhinebeck history:

  • Did you know that: 350 million years ago what is today Red Hook was in the heart of a mountain range, it was south of the equator, and a massive sea stretched from here to what is today Nevada? Or that the Taconic Mountains to the west of here are part of the same mountain chain as the Atlas Mountains in Morocco? Or that it wasn't until 1827 that New York's slaves were freed (50 years after Vermont), and still less than 300 of the state's 3,000 blacks were allowed to vote?

    You can read about this and more in A People's History of Red Hook by the creator of this website, Jeff Golden. You can download this 20-page document that focuses on the history of many people not given much attention in conventional histories (such as the native people), and giving some attention to the history of the land before humans lived here.

  • A Brief History of Red Hook by Clare O’Neill Carr

  • A Brief History of Rhinebeck by Nancy V. Kelly