According to legend, this site was the principal Manhattan Indian village, where Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island in 1626 for trinkets and beads then worth about 60 guilders. The spot was also where a tulip tree, Liriodendron Tiipifera, grew to a height of 165 feet and a girth of 20 feet. Until its death in 1938 at the age of 280 years, it was the last living link with the Reckgawawanc Indians who lived here.