In the fall of 16og, Hendrik Hudson anchored the Half Moon " off Communipaw, and the simple natives met him and said " Behold the Gods have come to visit us.'' Little they dreamed of the long sequence of evil results which would follow his coming and the introduction he gave them to rum," the most potent destroyer of their race. When Hendrik Hudson anchored off Communipaw, where lower Jersey City now stands, it was largely salt, marsh and the heights above were crowned with, heavy forests.

When he first came within Sandy Hook and gained his first view of Jersey shores he pronounced it a 11 very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see.Later the country about Communipaw he thought " as pleasant a land as one need tread upon." He found an Indian village near the shore called Gemoenepa and another at Hackensack. It is said that Summit Avenue follows a part of the trail or path connecting the two villages. Hudson found the natives along the west shore, from Sandy Hook to Weehawken, friendly and generous; they brought him oysters, corn and fruits. Of the beauty of these people Verrezano, who visited New York Bay in 1524, was quite enthusiastic and declares of two chiefs that ", they were more, beautiful in form and feature than can possibly be described." He said that 11 the women greatly resemble the Antique, of the, same form and beauty, very graceful, of fine countenance and pleasing appearance in manners and

Jersey City History Your Ancestors' Story

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