by Theodore Kazimiroff

 

A lone Algonquin Indian lived quietly in Pelham Bay Park, a wild and isolated part of New York City, in the 19th century. Joe Two Trees was the last of his people, and this is the beautiful and affecting story of his quest for dignity and peace, caught between a lost culture and an alien one. This is a book of local history with special resonance in this corner of the Bronx. Most of the action takes place in these environs, Pelham Bay Park, even the grounds of The New York Botanical Garden itself. Author Ted Kazimiroff is the son of Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff, one of the protagonists in the book, who worked at the Garden for many years and after whom the stretch of Southern Boulevard in front of the Garden is named.