Street Co-Naming Honors Matinecock Nation of Oueens and Long Island, NY

Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Nation,
Chief Osceola Townsend of the Matinecock
Nation, and Chief Roberto Mukaro Borrero
of the Guainia Taino Tribe. 

Little Neck, NY (UCTP Taino News) – The indigenous Matinecock Nation was honored in Little Neck on Monday, October 5, 2015 with the unveiling “Matinecock Way”, the new co-name of Northern Boulevard and Marathon Parkway. The special ceremony was the culmination of a joint effort by Matinecock descendants, the Bayside Historical Society, Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), Community Board 11, the Douglaston-Little Neck Community Library and other community partners. 

“Today we honor their legacy as a noble and harmonious people who remain our neighbors,” Councilman Vallone said. 

“Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Matinecock Tribe called the areas of what is now Douglaston and Little Neck home” stated Assemblyman Braunstien. 

In solidarity with the Matinecock and their Chief Osceola Townsend, various representatives of other indigenous Nations were attendance at the historic event including Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Nation and Roberto “Mukaro Agueibana” Borrero, President of the United Confederation of Taino People and chief of the Guainia Taino Tribe. 

The Matinecock are a branch of the Algonquin Indigenous language and cultural group, and once inhabited villages where Flushing, College Point, Bayside and Douglaston now stand. 

UCTPTN 10/06/2015