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Fort Massapeag: A Dutch Trading Post and ShelterÂ
Fort Massapeag: A Dutch Trading Post and ShelterÂ
(1656 - 1664) 🪵
(1656 - 1664) 🪵
Established on Fort Neck, Fort Massapeag was a unique and strategically important site.
Unique Structure: It is the only archaeologically documented Native American fort in Nassau County.
Dual Purpose: Historical and archaeological evidence confirms the fort was a Dutch trading post, built at the request of Sachem Tackapausha to Governor Peter Stuyvesant for the safety of the Massapequa people and to act as a trading post.
Local Control: Though built with European resources, the fort was ultimately under the control of the Algonquian Peoples of Long Island during the 17th century, serving both colonial and Indigenous interests.
Wampum manufactory: The Fort artifacts contained a large shell heap consistent with the manufacture of wampum, which served as Indigenous spiritual objects and had a role as currency when European metal coinage was scarce.
Visualizing Fort Massapeag Construction using AI
Visualizing Fort Massapeag Construction using AI
“The fort’s size, shape, and method of construction - a European-style quadrangular earthwork measuring 100 ft on each side, flanked at its northwestern and southeastern corners by bastions, surrounded by a ditch, and surmounted by an earth-fast stockade consisting of a single line of sharply pointed wooden palisade posts evidently cut by metal axes”
- Solecki and Grumet 1994
Visualization of Fort Massapeag, circa 1656-1664. Image created using Google Gemini AI based on text passage from Solecki, R., & Grumet, R. (1994). The bulletin - Number 108 fall 1994 contents. Design by John DiMarco. Source: The Fort Massapeag Archaeological Site, National Historic Landmark. https://nysarchaeology.org/download/nysaa/bulletin/number_108.pdf
Smith's Site Map
Smith's Site Map
A composite map drawn in 1954 of Fort Massapeag's contour by Carlyle Smith based on a composite of Smith and Solecki Maps. Notice the large shell heap, which indicates wampum manufacture. Image courtesy of Garvies Point Museum.
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