Sawkill mill

The Sawkill mill was a sawmill and slave quarters established by the Dutch West India Company in 1626, as part of the construction of New Netherland, a colonial province in North America. The mill was located at the mouth of the Sawkill, a stream that originated in what is now Central Park in New York City, and flowed into the East River. The slaves, who were mostly men, cut wood for the new colony and floated the logs which were guided by boat to New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland. The mill and the slave quarters are depicted on The Manatus map of 1639, the oldest map of Manhattan Island, which shows the Saw-Kill as a slave settlement of the Dutch West India Company, not as a mill site. This implies that by 1639, the Saw-Kill mill had reduced its wood-cutting activities.