The Lenape population had been ravaged not only by war, but by European diseases for which they had no natural immunity. The last known sale of land by an Esopus Indian in Ulster County occurred in 1770 (Fried 2005). The refuge itself lies close to two sites of great historic interest; only a mile to the west, the Esopus tribe had a major village on the Shawangunk Kill that was the scene of a dramatic battle and rescue of prisoners by Dutch forces in 1663, during the Second Esopus War.