Presented by Green-Wood, Organized by the New York Botanical Garden
Open June 11th–July 20th
The Atrium at The Green-House at Green-Wood
Before New York, there was nature. After New York, there will also be nature. Nature was, is, and forever will be a co-creator of the city we call home. The more closely we align our lives with the ways in which nature operates, the longer our city will endure and the richer and more profound our lives will become.
To see the nature of the place we now call the City of New York, ecologist Dr. Eric W. Sanderson and colleagues have spent more than 25 years reconstructing the lives of the inhabitants of this remarkably rich and diverse coastal landscape as it existed on September 12, 1609, on the eve of a visit by the English navigator in Dutch employ, Henry Hudson. We call the landscape that became New York City Welikia, a borrowed word from the Munsee-Lenape language that means “my good home.”
Welikia was exceptionally productive and diverse, providing home to thousands of species and to the Indigenous Lenape people for thousands of years before Hudson arrived. Enter to see the city like you’ve never seen it before, learn about the origins of place, and to appreciate the ways in which we have, do, and can shape our good home.
To kick off the exhibition at Green-Wood, join us for an Opening Lecture with Dr. Eric W. Sanderson on Tuesday, June 23rd, 6–8pm. In this public lecture, Sanderson uncovers the borough’s historical ecology and shows how its original forests, wetlands, and waterways inform today’s challenges related to flooding, climate resilience, and environmental justice. Click here to register.
Exhibition Funding: United States Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.