FAMILY & DESCENDANTS
Cranston was bringing out some other items, which he laid on the table.
“I checked on the Van Woort family too,” he explained. “They go further back than the Albershams. There was an old hunting shack owned by Thales’ grandfather Doorn. It was tucked right under two cliffs.”
Phil studied the crude drawing that showed the rude cabin. He nodded approvingly.
“A nice safe place.”
“It was until the Indians dropped down on it,” declared Cranston. “Right here on Manhattan Island. That was the end of Doorn. After that, the family wished they’d lived in a cave.”
“Why didn’t they?”
“Because they moved down to New Amsterdam proper, where land was more expensive but safer. Of course they still made expeditions way up into the wild lands which are now Central Park.”
“What happened to their old location?”
“Gone, long ago. It’s difficult to trace old landmarks in Central Park. The whole area was landscaped back in the Eighteen-fifties, a tremendous project for that day. Of course it followed the contour of the land, wherever possible.”