Peter Minuit Peter Minuit Peter Minuit, Pieter Minuit, Pierre Minuit, or Peter Minnewit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Walloon from Wesel, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, then part of the Duchy of Cleves. His surname means "midnight" in French. He was the 4th Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638. Minuit is generally credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch from the Lenape Native Americans. Manhattan
Woody Island (Alaska) on in 1951 for the small community. The facility was automated in the early 1970s and the majority of the remaining FAA complex burned in 1979. During the 1950s, the American Baptist Church began offering a non-denominational summer camp on the island, which is still in operation today. The FAA still maintains a radio beacon on the island for aircraft directional use. There is no longer any public transportation to the island. The island is inhabited today by two "hermits" and is visited by two families owning summer homes there. The majority of land on Woody Island is private property,