Owl’s Head Park Theories abound as to the origin of the name
Owl's Head Park. The geographic explanation is that the land was
once shaped like the head of an owl. Some insist that owls
formerly lived here, but there is no survey or record to confirm
this. A local journalist remembers a swank hotel of the same
name on the corner of Third Avenue and 69th Street. The last
theory derives from the fact that the estate which once nestled
into the hillside had a pair of stone owls framing its entrance
gate. Despite its uncertain source, the name has withstood the
test of time. Canarsie Indians, who were part of the Mohegan
Nation and spoke Algonquin, lived in and around present-day
Owl's Head Park. They fished in the Hudson River and New York
Harbor, collected oysters on the shore, and farmed the fertile
outwash plain. The first Europeans to settle this land were of
Dutch descent. They established Yellow Hook, an agricultural
community named for the yellow clay which leached from the shore
into the water. Among thes