The Greatest Port That Never Was
B
The Environmental History of Jamaica Bay
etween Brooklyn and Queens is a large, peaceful estuary oft taken for granted by those who live around it. Aside from its use as a source for fishing or a platform on which to zip around in recreational watercraft, few give any thought at all to the complex and oftentimes highly dynamic history that was involved in transforming Jamaica Bay into the body of water it is known as today. The first European eyes to sight the bay were likely those of Henry Hudson and his crew, who, believing it to be the mouth to a great river, recorded it in their ships’ logs in 1609. Of course, they were not the very first people to see the bay, however, and for generations before that, the area’s shoreline served as home to a number of native tribes, many of whom would leave their names behind for the areas that they inhabited. The Canarsie, the Reckowacky (who gave their name to Rockaway), and the Maspit (Maspeth) were among the many who fished the bountiful waters during the warm summer months. The bay was so prosperous that, according to archaeological findings, there were as many as thirteen different settlement sites located within a three-mile area of its shoreline. One tribe, however, seemed to be of particular importance to this early, preEuropean society of hunter-gatherers. They
by Ray Vann
New York City
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were the Jameco, and it was from them that we today take the name Jamaica Bay. These early groups were among the first to alter the shape of the bay and its shores, chopping down trees to construct their homes and canoes, gathering the plentiful sea life for food and wampum, and leaving vast mountains of discarded shells stacked high along the beaches. These large mounds of shells, known as middens, would remain in place for centuries, many surviving well into the late nineteenth century, long after the last of the native tribes had left or died out. The Dutch were the first Europeans to make any real attempts at settling the
land around Jamaica Bay, attracted by the area’s flat, fertile soil. Immigrants from the Netherlands set up a few small mills as well, hoping to take advantage of the cool sea breezes and clean waters. Crops grew well on the low-lying plains, most of which required only minimal clearing, and cattle grazed freely on the salt marsh grasses while fish and shellfish provided a welcome change to the farmers’ otherwise mundane diet. Eventually the Dutch would be replaced by the English, who took control of the region in 1664, erecting even more settlements around Jamaica Bay. By 1865 their descendants had converted more than
library of congress
“Typhoid Oysters of Jamaica Bay.” After hundreds of people were taken ill with gastroenteritis or typhoid fever from eating oysters harvested from the contaminated waters of Jamaica Bay, the shellfishing industry was shut down entirely in the 1920s.
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SEA HISTORY 164, AUTUMN 2018