Navigating the Bay Before Lighthouses – Using the "Indian trees"

            At least eight sailing charts or harbor plans published between 1727 and 1794 contain a pair of piloting landmarks to help ships entering lower New York Bay at Sandy Hook to sail up toward Manhattan harbors. One landmark, on the northern-facing coastal bluffs of the Navesink Highlands, is a stand of trees labeled "Indian trees;" the other is a church steeple in eastern Brooklyn . When west-bound ships crossed above the Hook and were positioned in a direct line-of-sight between these two landmarks, they could make a 90-degree right turn north and sail a safe channel toward Manhattan ..

            The cluster of tall "Indian trees" was drawn at the same spot on all eight of these maps (see 1730 example, Figure 6.4). In their visible location, the trees were presumably given the "Indian" label because of their large size and age, dating back to pre-colonial Lenape times. In addition, European settlement of surrounding bayside lands, which is well documented, undoubtedly had to include tree felling for house construction timbers, fencing, fuel, etc., and this would have increased the visibility of this surviving tree group.

             Given the prominence of this point above the bay and its direct access from a major Lenape trail, it is not inconceivable -- though there is no direct evidence of this -- that there was something special about the site for the Lenape. From there, the view extends across Sandy Hook Bay/Raritan Bay to some of the eastern bay shore and Staten Island to the northwest, to Manhattan on the north, to Brooklyn on the north east, and Sandy Hook and the Atlantic Ocean in the easterly direction. The site has now been pinpointed based on the location of the modern navigation aid which succeeded the Indian trees -- the beacon light in the Chapel Hill section of Middletown . This light marked the   "Chapel Hill channel" in Sandy Hook Bay that lines up with the eastern end of Brooklyn, as noted in the New York Harbor map of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA1983 datum, published 1986). As a result, we can see that this cluster of trees was perched on the brow of the ridge which carried the long-distance Minisink-to-Navesink trail of the Lenape (today's King's Highway).   

Paul Boyd

Atlantic Highlands, NJ

2008

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