The Lower Hudson Chapter was founded by Louis A. Brennan in 1963. We are a non-profit NYS chartered organization. Our membership is comprised of archaeologists, experienced avocational archaeologists and other interested in archaeology and the history and pre-history of our area.

We have been engaged in the archaeological research and excavation of the 10,000 year pre-history and 17th to 19th century history of the Lower Hudson area. Our headquarters, at Croton Point Park, includes:

1. Research Laboratory which provides a repository for MALFA's archaeological finds and material from cultural resources recovery projects. It is a research center for visiting archaeologists.
2. The Charles W. Merrit Memorial Library houses primarily historic and pre-historic archaeology and anthropology publications with an emphasis on the northeast.
3. Educational exhibits.

 Inspired by Louis A. Brennan, as well as other members, the chapter has excavated the following sites:

1. Croton Point (1960-1963) - The Kettle Rock Site was located on Enoch's Nose at the northern shore of Croton Point. This site has since been eroded away by wave action. Had it not been excavated when it was, this significant information would have been lost. At the time, this was the oldest oyster shell carbon-14 dated site in the state.
2. Piping Rock (1972-1980) - was located at the mouth of the Croton River, in north Ossining. Though the oldest date obtained there was about 6000 years ago, artifacts recovered without association with datable organic materials indicate occupation of at least 10,000 years. This was an important pre-historic site in Westchester.
3. Requa House (1977-1983) - located in Tarrytown, was a tenant holding of the Requa family on the Philipsburg Manor from about 1720 to 1830. It formerly included the Lyndhurst property to the south. The Requa site is archaeologically important because it was the only intact tenant farm of the early Colonial period to be excavated in the Lower Hudson Valley.

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