Dyckman Sitting Area Jan Dyckman, a shoemaker and patriarch of
the Dyckman family in America, emigrated from Holland in the
mid-1600s. Dyckman, along with fellow Dutchman Jan Nagel,
purchased much of the land between present-day 155th Street and
the northern end of the island sometime after 1661. Members of
the Dyckman and Nagel families lived on this land continuously
for three generations, until the outbreak of the Revolutionary
War. During the British occupation of Manhattan (1776-1783), the
Dyckmans, like many other patriots, fled the city and did not
return until the British evacuation. When the war ended and the
Dyckmans found that their home and orchards had been destroyed,
they built a new house on Kingsbridge Road, today’s Broadway,
near what is now 204th Street. They chose this location on a
major thoroughfare in order to supplement their income by
providing accommodations for travelers on their way to and from
Manhattan. The Dyckmans also made their fields available to
livestock in transit to the s