The Hudson Valley’s Native American history comes alive in Greenburgh

Learn about how this land we walk on was used thousands of years ago on this Road Trip: Close To Home to the Greenburgh Nature Center.
There's no shortage of history in the Hudson Valley, especially Native American history, and there are educational programs to teach you all about it at the center. "They had culture, they had music, they had art, they had different engagements with different communities. It was such a rich, rich culture and heritage and, unfortunately, not enough people know about it," says Travis Brady, of the Greenburgh Nature Center.
Visitors can immerse themselves into the world of the first people of the Hudson Valley with structures like a longhouse. "It's all-natural materials, there's no metal, there are no screws. There are nothing really current construction materials in there. They would've built it, it would've been a learned technique that you would've passed on to your family and to your kids," says Brady.
In the center’s Native American Replica Village, visitors learned how tribes not only survived, but thrived, solely off of their natural environment. "When people come to our program, they'll certainly learn that the tribes were known as the Eastern Woodland Indians, and we kind of the tie the woodlands back to the 'store.' Anything you need, you go to the woods for," explains Brady.
Those woods provided everything, including how to build canoes! "That's a single piece of wood from a trunk of a tree, to do that today with saws and chainsaws and axes is fairly straightforward, but to do that with stone and bone and fire, it takes a little more knowledge and skill," says Brady.
Along your walk, you'll also come across a life-size wigwam — another style of housing 6,000 years ago.
You will also see what preparing a meal would've looked like.
Then, make your way over to the animals of the nature center. Some played a pretty big role in the lives of the first people -like bald eagles!
And at the barnyard, let your new furry friends make your day.