2. A plaque marking a famous tree

plaque marking a tree in Inwood Hill Park

At the edge of the old-growth forest sits a large rock holding a plaque that reads “Shorakkapoch,” a Lenape word for “a wading place” or “place between two valleys,” according to Tainow. It was once the site of a 280-year-old Tulip tree celebrated as the tree under which Dutch settlers purchased a piece of the island of Manhattan from the Native American Lenape tribe.

“But if you actually do the math it doesn’t quite work out,” says Baisley, “The tree wouldn’t have been born yet.” Despite valiant efforts to save the tree, it died in 1938.

Coordinates: 40°52’24.1″N 73°55’25.3″W