Central Park’s Dutch Harlem

The Northern end of Central Park was once the earliest uptown settlement of the Dutch era. On this 1.5-hour walking tour, historian Sara Cedar Miller, author of Before Centra Park, explains why Hendrick and Isaac de Forest and their brother-in-law, Dr. Johannes de la Montagne, chose to live far north of New Amsterdam. You’ll stroll through the land that once was the family’s tobacco bouwerie, and learn about the tragedy and aftermath of Kieft’s War. Miller will enchant you with stories about the residents, their intermarriages, their engagement with slavery, as well as their scandals and tavern life, which lasted up to the taking of the land for Central Park. The Dutch way of life continued to 19th century Harlem.