The Indigenous People of Marlborough

The Marlboro Free Library and the Gomez Mill House would like to respectfully acknowledge that they are located on indigenous land once belonging to the Munsee Esopus tribe (part of the Delaware tribe of the Lenape People). Archaeological evidence of their presence has been located near the banks of the Hudson and along Old Indian Road in town. A Native American burial ground is also present in Milton.

Historical records indicate that along the property that Luis Moses Gomez purchased in 1716, several Native American trading routes converged. These trails were a popular place for the Munsee Tribe to come together to trade and hunt, before heading just a few miles south to Danskammer Point. At Danskammer, tribes would perform ceremonial rituals and hold council. In 1882, the rock where local tribes held ceremonial rituals was destroyed, when the steamer the Thomas Cornell ran aground one foggy evening.

Over the years, artifacts “made of quartz and other stone not obtained locally,” have been found at Danskammer, which was once formally part of Marlborough, “indicating that other [tribes] from afar visited here during the periodic runs of shad, sturgeon, and herring.”

Unfortunately, by the late 1700s, war, disease, and the seizure of land by white settlers, resulted in many of the remaining Lenape peoples to move out of the area or give up their culture.