Beyond Manhattan: A Gazetteer of Delaware Indian History
[Robert S. Grumet (2014)] several others in the area between the 1680s and the 1720s, resided at Pakanasink as late as 1736 (Goshen Public Library, Minisink Patent Papers). Settlers moving to Maringomahan’s old home along Pakanasink Creek just before the Revolutionary War gave the name Peconasink to the small hamlet they built on its banks just one mile west of today’s Pine Bush (Spafford 1813:297). By 1815, the people of Peconasink adopted New Prospect, the hamlet’s current name, to adorn their church and community. was drawn from a list of Indian signatories to the November 22, 1683, Indian deed to the area published in Robert Bolton (1881 2:536). PASCACK (Rockland County). The upper reaches of Pascack Brook (see in New Jersey North in Part 1), and the tracks of New Jersey Transit’s Pascack Valley Line that run alongside the stream, both extend north of New Jersey state line into Rockland County. recorded example of the name Pataukunk, recorded as Papapakapochke, sounds similar to a Munsee word, *papaapakaapoxkuw, “there are flat rocks all around.” Today, Pataukunk is a small crossroads hamlet in the Town of Rochester located just south of the place where the waters of the Fantinekill fall into Mombaccus Creek (see above) to form the Mill Brook. Papapakapochke appeared in a July 6, 1705, Indian deed as the name of a tract whose bounds extended “from Hoonckh up said creek to Nawesinck [see Honk and Neversink above]. . . at least three English miles” (Ulster County Records, Deed Book AA:353). Another Indian deed dated November 2, 1706, this one signed by Shawachkommin (see Jogee above), located Papapakapochke two miles above Hoonckh on land whose proprietor was as a “Waggachkemeck Indian [see Machackemeck above] called Orekenawe” (Ulster County Records, Deed Book AA:401). Papapakapochke was evidently one of the more northerly places where Orekenawe, a spelling of Nowenock (see Nanuet above and Naraneka in Connecticut), made his home. A small village grew up along a wagon road running past a mill built at the site of the sachem’s former home during the 1700s. Becoming a local center of the logging and tanning industry, the little village became large enough to support a post office named Pataukunk that opened sometime between 1855 and 1882. The locale transformed itself into a resort destination like so many other Catskill Mountain towns during the last decades of the nineteenth century. Pataukunk now is a residential community located along Ulster County Route 3. PATTHUNKE (Westchester County). Patthunke is the name of a summer camp operated by the Village of Scarsdale. The name was drawn from numerous records referring to the local sachem bearing the name mentioned in deeds selling land in and around Westchester between 1666 and 1714. PEENPACK (Orange County). Huguenot refugees who had settled in mid-Hudson Valley communities such as Hurley and Marbletown moved farther southwest to a settlement they called Peenpack along the lower course of the Maghaghkemack River (see Machackemeck and Neversink above) during the 1690s. Whritenour thinks that Peenpack’s almost identical linguistic twin, Paunpeck (see in New Jersey North in Part 1 below), may come from a Munsee word, *paanupeekw, “wide water. Ruttenber (1906a:225) thought Peenpack was a Dutch word, paan-pach, “low, soft, or leased land.” Whatever the etymology of its name, the little Peenpack farming community became the site of Fort Gumaer, one of the lines of fortifications built along the Shawangunk and Kittatiny Mountain frontier shortly after the outbreak of the last French and Indian War. Peenpack became part of Cuddebackville, established after the Delaware and Hudson Canal was built through the area in 1828. Peenpack Trail is a road that presently runs from the unincorporated 24 Beyond Manhattan, Robert S. Grumet land (see Manursing above) in an Indian deed to land in the area signed on June 29, 1660 (in Robert Bolton 1881 2:130). The place name Peningo has long been associated with Ponus, a sachem who put his mark onto several land sales in the area between 1640 and 1655. A number of Ponus’ kinsmen, including a sachem named Taphow who later rose to prominence in northern New Jersey, signed the abovementioned 1660 conveyance. The sachem’s name also graces Ponus Ridge and several other nearby places in the Town of Ridgefield (see in Connecticut). PEPACTON (Delaware County). Whritenour thinks that Papakonk, the earliest recorded form of Pepacton, sounds like a Munsee word, *peepakang, “sweet flag (grass).” Today, Pepacton Reservoir and Dam are located along the East Branch (often called the Pepacton Branch) of the Delaware River. Also known as the Downsville Reservoir and Dam, the 15-mile-long Pepacton impoundment is the largest in the New York City Water System. Pepacton water destined for the city is drawn by gravity into the 26mile-long East Delaware Aqueduct Tunnel near the former site of the now-submerged Pepacton community. Flowing first into the Neversink (see above)