Secrets of Lower Manhattan

Stone Street in the Financial District of Manhattan is a lively little block, filled with outdoor tables of the bars and restaurants that line it. It received its name because it was the first street paved in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. The Dutch called it Hoogh Streat (High Street) because it was a…

Peter Minuit was the third director of the colony of New Amsterdam, which later became known as New York. He is most famously known for the 1626 purchase of the island of Manhattan for $24 in beads, at least that was the story in schoolbooks. But did it actually happen? The Dutch West India Company…