Jamaica, NY news and local guide

Jamaica Avenue follows an ancient trail used by Native peoples from as far as the Ohio River and the Great Lakes to trade skins and furs for wampum. In 1655 the first settlers paid the Native owners two guns, a coat and some powder and lead for the land between the trail and Beaver Pond, since filled in. Tuckerton Street now runs through the old pond site, and Beaver Road follows its western edge. Director-General Peter Stuyvesant named the settlement Rustdorp, "rest town," in its 1656 land patent. Robert Coe, one of the founders, served as the first magistrate under the Dutch until the English took over in 1664 and made it part of Yorkshire. When the Crown divided New York into counties in 1683, Jamaica became the seat of Queens County, one of the original counties. In the Revolution, Jamaica's band of 56 minutemen took an active part in the Battle of Long Island, after which British troops occupied the New York area for most of the war. Sources Wikipedia: Jamaica, Queens