To the Editor:
Centuries ago, local native families traveled, hunted, fished, and camped in a high elevation district they called Mbeesuk for Place of the Lake, the area known today as the Helderberg Hilltowns. Historic documentation is scarce, but careful analysis of what is available can tell us much about a nearly vanished world.

Please join the New Scotland Historical Association for Justin Wexler’s presentation on a little-known topic and get a glimpse of the Hilltowns in the era before Euro-American settlement. 

Wexler, of Wild Hudson Valley, has devoted his life to sharing his love for the natural world and for the area’s original inhabitants. He strives to connect the past with the present, to inspire others to become stewards of our planet, and to spread awareness that the indigenous people of the Hudson Valley, though displaced, still exist.

We will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, at the Wyman Osterhout Community Center in New Salem at 7 Old New Salem Road. 

The association’s annual general membership meeting will precede the program. 

Admission is always free. 

The New Scotland Historical Association Museum will be open at 7 p.m.

Judy Kimes

Publicist

New Scotland Historical Association