Broadway Began as an Indian Trail

Back in the wild, wild east, the street you now know as Broadway use to be called the Wickquasgeck Road. Merely a beaten, well-trodden clearing through the wilderness, the Wickquasgeck Road was a trail the natives of the Island Manhattan used to walk to get from one side to the other. Was it grand, was there lavish theatrical performances drawing millions of visitors to the thoroughfare? No. But there was, apparently, a lot of Native Americans passing daily.

In fact, the first ever description of Broadway was a mention of the Wickquasgeck Road  in one of David de Vires journals. David de Vries was a Dutch explorer who was integral in getting settlers into the region. Anyways, he once took pen to paper to write of Broadway, “the Wickquasgeck Road over which the Indians passed daily.” Who would have thought that the road that the natives walked by everyday would become such a cultural phenomena?

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 9, 2009 - Post a comment