Moscopas Pond Traditional Cache

If you follow the elevation of Mount Misery down and to the south, you eventually come to the site of Moscopas, once considered a sacred swamp. In a land deed for the Bethpage Purchase, dated 1695 transferring ownership of the area to Thomas Powell, and signed by, among others, Sowwamacus, Moscopas is described as a “hole of dirt and water.”

It’s also worth noting that native Americans at the time didn’t consider the concept of owning land to be the same as what the white people did. To them, it was more like renting, allowing them the use of the land, along with the native Americans, and also meant that the colonists would assist them in their defense, if necessary. This deed spells out that the native Americans reserve the “liberty of hunting and gathering huckleberries. If you want to read all the historical details about this sacred spot of water that Indians traveled to from as far as Montauk to visit, read the info on the sister cache, located on the opposite corner called “Manattto Hill”