Matinecock Tribe

Source: Matinecock Tribe

The Matinecock people are from a branch of the Algonquin Indian Nation. They lived widely along Little Neck Bay and Long Island Sound, from Flushing, Bayside to Douglaston, until being forced to move further east in the 1600s.

The Matinecock are one of thirteen indigenous tribes of Long Island. The name Matinecock means “Hilly country.”Their ancestors were among the first to have their way of life change by European settlement. Lands were taken through trickery, where indigenous leaders signed deeds were meanings of agreements were purposefully lost in translation. After a massacre of  indigenous people by the Dutch in 1643, the Matinecock left the area and traveled east. Maps of the area show the push of the Matinecock out of the area around Little Neck Bay, further out east.

The marker is at the site where remains from the indigenous peoples cemetery where reinterred at Zion Episcopal Churchyard, Douglaston. This marker incorrectly states that it  is for the 'Last of the Matinecoc.' The photographs on decedents of the Matinecock Tribe show the continuation of their lineage.