The importance of Keskaechquerem as a meeting place for the natives coming from all directions would indicate its situation at some point where the main lines of travel converge. The station on Canarsie neck does not appear favorably in this regard. It seems to have been more of a place for the cultivation of crops and the manufacture of wampum. The most natural position for a place of meeting in this locality is Flatlands (104), a place where a known station existed, which is situated at the junction of paths

INDIAN NOTES

CO O 3

° Sri

DC P

>- Xi

z a

2 LLl

< -- > I

H°

< Ul

THE CANARSEE

converging from four directions. At this place the "ancient path" from the west united with the main path from Manhattan on the north. It was reached by the trail on the Flatlands Neck road and Hunterfly road from the northeast, connecting with the Rockaway path. Nearby was Winippague, the Bergen Beach factory of wampum, and the large stations at Gerritsen basin and on Canarsie neck.

From Clarendon road the main path, following Flatbush avenue, turned southeast on a straight line to this station at Flatlands (104), six and a half miles from East river. This was the earliest white plantation, named Nieuw Amersfoort, embracing a broad tract of cultivable land. At this place the old trail divided, passing east to Winippague or Bergen beach, and west to Gravesend and New Utrecht. The Flatlands tract as granted June 16, 1636, comprised all the land between Gerritsen creek and Paardegat creek, including modern South Flatbush, Vandeveer Park, and Westminster Heights Park. This, however, did not include Winippague, for that island