10/16/2026
Hutchinson River Triptych No. 3. Anne Hutchinson is someone I think about from time to time. I passed a sign on the Hutch daily for years that said the parkway and river are named after her - followed by the years 1591 and 1643. Every time I pass the sign I wondered who she was and if the parkway and river are the only ones in the NYC area named after a woman. The thought was always fleeting and replaced by the order of the day at the end of my commute. On our tour with Hutchinson River Restoration Project we learned more of her story which I cannot reduce to an Instagram post. I know she stood for religious freedom and challenged church authorities. I don’t know the means by which she became an owner of Siwanoy land and how that led to her to be killed during Kieft’s War. I do, however, know Kieft is a name I recall from both high school and in some of my own Dutch ancestry research where I read that his brutality in his dealings with Native Americans lead at least one settler, David Pieterszen DeVries, - whose surname is on my family tree - to leave New Netherland and return to Holland. All this is to say - I have a lot to learn and was recommended the book “American Jezebel” which was written by one of her descendants. I’ll also be looking to learn more from the perspective of the Siwanoy people on whose land Anne Hutchinson settled. Recommendations are welcome.
