Two Tree Island Bronx NYC walking tour Orchard Beach Twin Island Preserve Pelham Bay Park BX New York City USA summer 2021 4K video
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Two Tree Island
This island that actually has many trees is named “Two Trees Island.” It was named for what may be the last Native American New Yorker to live off the land. The island was named after Joe Two Trees or “The Last Algonquin.”
The recording of the life of Joe Two Trees began all the way back in 1924. That year a 12-year-old Boy Scout named Theodore L. Kazimiroff was exploring the Bronx woods on the shores of the Long Island Sound and Pelham Bay when he met and befriended Joe Two Trees.
In that remote area of the Bronx, the man who had once tried to live “the civilized life” but had been rejected and abused by the Manhattan population was living off the land in seclusion. It is a story of a 20th century loner living off the land in the Bronx and a happy story of teaching one teenage friend, forging, hunting, fishing, trapping and basket weaving.
The young naturalist would lead a fruitful life. Theodore L. Kazimiroff became a successful Bronx dentist, the official Bronx historian and founder of the Bronx County Historical Society. He was a community leader who would teach local children earth science and a community activist who lead the fight to stop dumping garbage in Pelham Bay Park. Mr. Kazimiroff has had a Bronx street named after him, plus nature trails in both Van Cortlandt and Pelham Bay Park,
But he never told that story of Joe Two Trees. Theodore L. Kazimiroff passed away in 1980 and his son Ted Kazimiroff Jr. recorded what he could remember from the stories about the hidden lifestyle of Joe Two Trees. In 1982 a book was released named The Last Algonquin.
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Twin Islands
This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.
Located east of Hunter Island along the northern point of Orchard Beach, the 19-acre Twin Islands and the surrounding environment are a valuable natural asset to New York City. The Twin Islands are one of the last remaining salt marshes in the New York City area. Among New York’s least known, and most valuable, natural resources are its salt marshes. Salt marshes are transitional zones: they lie at the border of land and sea, between the ocean's waves and freshwater rivers and streams. Salt marshes are natural filtration systems that trap pollutants from sewers and septic fields that would otherwise contaminate our bays and oceans. They have a self-cleansing ability and absorb fertilizers to improve water quality. They reduce erosion, and they provide for rich wildlife habitats.
The Siwanoy, a tribe of the Lenapes, originally inhabited the Twin Islands of Pelham Bay Park. Like the adjacent Hunter Island, the islands were known as “Laap-Haw-Wach-King,” or, “the place of stringing beads.” The Siwanoy used the islands for hunting, fishing, and collecting wampum. They also performed spiritual ceremonies on the large glacial boulders, Mishow and Gray Mare. On June 27, 1654, the Siwanoy sold the Twin Islands to Thomas Pell (1613-1669), as part of the Pell purchase. Pell’s manor once included the eastern half of the Bronx and Westchester. The islands changed hands many times before the 1880s, when banker James D. Fish built a red sandstone mansion on them. In 1888 the City of New York acquired the Twin Islands as part of the greater Pelham Bay Park purchase, and Fish’s mansion was torn down. The islands were a popular spot for German, Scandinavian, Czechoslovakian, and Russian boaters and canoeists in the early 1900s.
In 1936 Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) removed the bungalows along Rodman’s Neck, Hunter Island, and the Twin Islands for the construction of Orchard Beach. Moses’ ambitious $8 million plan to renovate the area added 115 new acres of land, using over 3 million cubic yards of sanitation landfill to join Rodman’s Neck to Hunter Island. Construction crews added white sand from the Rockaways in Queens and Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to the beach at a rate of 4,000 cubic yards a day. The islands, originally know as East and West Twin, were joined to Orchard Beach in 1947.
The Twin Islands are home to a wide variety of animal and plant life. Migratory birds like the Little
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Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max smartphone video 4K video
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Bronx, New York City, USA United States of America country, North America continent
June 26th 2021
