This March, the&nbsp;New Amsterdam History Center will showcase an interactive 3D model of the Castello Plan created for the New-York Historical Society exhibit New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam. &nbsp; The special installation is organized around the Castello Plan, a map depicting New Amsterdam circa 1660, just before the English seized control. Through documents, objects and the digital 3D model, the installation explores how European settlers, Indigenous people, and enslaved Africans experienced the world illustrated in the Castello Plan.&nbsp;

A redraft of the 1660's Castello Plan of New Amsterdam, completed in 1916 by John Wolcott Adams and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes.

 Bowling Green is New York City`s oldest park. According to tradition, this spot served as the council ground for Native American tribes and was the site of the legendary sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit in 1626. It was first designated as a park in 1733, when it was offered for rent at the cost of one peppercorn per year. By the late 18th century, Bowling Green marked the center of New York`s most fashionable residential area, surrounded by rows of Federal-style townhouses. Since December 1989 the statue of Charging Bull (1987-89) has been on display at the north end of the park. Its sculptor, Arturo DiModica, says the three-and-a-half-ton bronze figure represents "the strength, power and hope of the American people for the future." It has also been linked to the prosperity enjoyed by Wall Street in the past decade. 

Bowling Green

Downtown Manhattan used to harbor a system of canals during the 17th century. Of the city`s lost canals, including the Heere Graft, the largest of such conduits, which once ran down what is now Broad Street from Pearl to Beaver Streets.During the 17th-century, between the years 1646 to 1676, the Heere Graft emptied out into the East River. Both the Heere Graft and its &ldquo;narrower continuation,&rdquo; Prinzen Gracht,&rdquo; which ran from Beaver Street to south of Exchange Palace, were named after canals that had recently been built in Amsterdam. In the Castello Plan, the original city map of New Amsterdam created by Jacques Cortelyou in 1660. You can spot the inlet with three bridges spanning it.Unfortunately, the &ldquo;odorous length&rdquo; was akin to a sewer and the English, upon acquiring control of the land, ordered the Heere Gracht to be filled in in 1676.

Heere Gracht ('Gentleman's Canal')

Pearl Street was the original eastern shoreline of Manhattan. Pearl Street's irregular course is due to the fact that it generally followed the original shoreline, until the latter half of the 18th century when years of landfill extended the shoreline roughly 700&ndash;900 feet (200-300m) further into the East River, first to Water Street and later to Front Street.The street was named after the mounds of oyster shells that covered the sea shore left by the Lenape Indians and was eventually paved with them. Some scientists estimate that around half of the world`s oyster population lived in New York Harbor when Henry Hudson first arrived there. The street was called Great Queen street during the British years. The "Great" was used often to differentiate from Little Queen Street, which became Cedar Street in 1784. Landfill over the course of several hundred years, starting in the latter half of the 18th century has extended the shoreline roughly 700 - 900 feet (200-300m) further into the East River, first to Water Street and later to Front Street.The history of Pearl Street dates back to the early 1600s. A cow path at first, it was laid out in 1633. Its name is an English translation of the Dutch Parelstraat (written as Paerlstraet around 1660). The street is visible on the Castello Plan along the eastern shore of New Amsterdam.

Pearl Street

Built by slaves along the northern edge of the settlement; the path along it became known as Waal Strat."In 1653 the city of New Amsterdam erected a wall along the northern edge of town to protect the inhabitants from attack. This wall, five to six feet high, was constructed of heavy planks laid horizontally and ran from the Hudson River to the East River on the line of present-day Wall Street. Frequently in need of repair, the wall was abandoned by 1699."A gang of black men labored as long as daylight allowed, digging a three-foot-deep trench from the East River all the way across Manhattan Island to the Hudson River. The trench followed a rough path that ran along the north edge of the village. It was March 1653, and Governor Stuyvesant had been sent orders to fortify New Amsterdam. English warships were gathering in Boston Harbor, readying to sail south and take the Dutch colony.The men digging the trench had names such as Paulo d’Angola, Simon Congo, and Anthony Portuguese. As their names showed, many were Africans who had worked aboard Spanish or Portuguese ships before the Dutch seized them. These Africans were owned by the Dutch West India Company, but some had gained a form of half-freedom. They worked for themselves, but owed the company labor whenever needed. Half-free or enslaved, they could own property, testify in court, bear arms in emergencies, attend church, and marry. But their children were not free.When the Africans finished the trench, they formed a wall by standing big logs into it. Each log was 18 inches around and 12 feet long. Then they pounded dirt and stones back into the trench around the base of each log to make the wall strong. They built blockhouses at the ends of the wall, and gates were added where roads ran through it. But as soon as the wall was finished, it was no longer needed. The Netherlands and England had signed a peace treaty. However, the wall built by the Africans gave the rough path that eventually became a street with a new name—Wall Street.

Wall of New Amsterdam is built

Fort Amsterdam

Broadway was originally called the Wickquasgeck trail by the First people's of Manhattan, the Lenape Indians. It ran north-south 14 miles, the entire length of Manhattan, following an original ridge of land, snaking through brush, swamps, and rocks.

Broadway

Dug at Ft James (originally, Fort Amsterdam) to supply water for tea. The first public well was dug in New Amsterdam in 1658 in front of the old fort just south of Bowling Green. It was the only public well in the city until 1677, when several more were ordered to be dug. Over the years, many more were sunk at busy street corners. These wells used primitive buckets that were gradually replaced with pumps. As the city`s population increased, the water became brackish and polluted by organic matter and inefficient in supply. A few wells had tapped into underground springs, some of which supplied the water to Collect Pond. This water was reputed to be fresh and of superior quality.

1st Public Water Well

The Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam

The Great Dock of New Amsterdam was the only pier that projected into the Hudson River for till the 1770's. It handled all the large ships arriving to the colony. In 1664, for instance, the Dutch ship Gideon arrived from Angola with with a cargo of 291 Africans which was the largest shipment of enslaved men, women, and children brought to the Dutch colony. The Dutch West India Company relied on Africans to build homes, fortifications, and even the Great Dock. Before the Gideon could be loaded again for its return trip, British warships arrived. Without a single shot being fired, New Amsterdam became New York, and about 150 Dutch soldiers marched onto the Gideon to sail home.Initially, New York was indistinguishable from New Amsterdam. By the 1670s, however, the English governors began to make their own improvements to the city. In 1675, the canal (Heere Gracht) was filled in and the wooden pier was replaced with the Great Dock &ndash; a stone pier surrounded by a breakwater. As trade increased so too did the population: from some 3000 in 1680 to nearly 5000 by 1700.

New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam

ABOUT

EVENT PHOTOS AND DRAWING

IMAGES

In This Photo