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Vriesland – Mini-series performed by the Jefferson Radio Theater company

In 1644 the Hackensack band of the Lenape Indians were massacred by Dutch soldiers on the beach at Hoboken. This is the story of David deVries, Patroon of the Dutch West India Company, who had come to live among the Lenape and had wedded chief Oratam’s daughter. But the Dutch were trading guns for furs to the Mohawk who sought to dominate the Lenape. The Nanuet Lenape fled to deVries for help and followed him as he crossed the Hudson to Governor Kieft’s office to stop the dangerous trade in guns. But an old Lenape woman had stolen peaches from Kieft’s garden and he had a particular hatred for the “savages.” Locking deVries in his office, he sent his troops across the river to the beach at Hoboken where they slaughtered the Indians, men, women and children.