Esophus Munsee
Since time immemorial, the land on which historic Huguenot Street sits today was home to Esopus Munsee people and their Lenape ancestors. Long before any stone houses were built here, indigenous families lived in circular dwellings made of plant materials, primarily saplings and bark. These homes were called wigwams and looked similar to the replica that stands today on the lawn of the DuBois Fort Visitor Center.
The Esopus Munsee people spoke a Munsee dialect of the Lenape language. Lenape is one of the languages of the East Algonquin subgroup of the Algonquin language family. This map indicates some of the Indigenous territories and different languages that were spoken in what is now New York State and the surrounding region.
Efforts are being made today to preserve and teach the Lenape language.
https://www.delawaretribe.org
Read
Peter Stuyvesant - Chapter X: The Esopus War
Four groups of this division were sometimes called together (Esopus, Espachomy) : Catskill, Momekotiny, Waranawonkong, Wawarsink
Culturally, the Mansi stood apart and until the last century were often considered an independent tribe. The term appears in sources in the 18th century.
