Thank you for the compliment and for finding the typo. It should read “firepots” not “fireboats”–just fixed it.
Yes, I agree about the Hamilton quote. It also begs the question of just how long the Munsee were living in this area. That was 1744. I have not come across any references to their presence in the neighborhood after that date.
The diary entry was from the morning of August, 31st. He had spent the previous night in the tavern in Kingsbridge and his diary entry from the day before reads:
“Coming from [New Rochelle] att 4 o’clock I put up this night att Doughty’s who keeps house att Kingsbridge, a fat man much troubled with the rheumatism and of a hasty, passionate temper. I supped upon roasted oysters, while my landlord eat roasted ears of corn att another table. He kept the whole house in a stirr to serve him and yet could not be pleased. This night proved very stormy and threatened rain. I was disturbed again in my rest by the noise of a heavy tread of a foot in the room above. That wherein I lay was so large and lofty that any noise echoed as if it had been in a church.”
He must have been travelling on the Boston Post Road if he was New Rochelle the night before. I also found it interesting that the fare on offer was oysters and corn–traditional local food in the Munsee tradition. Doughty’s Tavern was lucky they didn’t have Yelp in those days.