Two Indian skeletons were found in Fernleigh grounds in 1910, when a
tennis court was being made, and the skeletons of Indians have been
unearthed in some other parts of the village. A concealed sentry keeps
vigil not far away from Fernleigh. The garden at the northwest corner of
River and Church streets, nearly opposite to Fernleigh, has had for many
years, on the River Street side, a retaining wall. When Fenimore Cooper
owned the property this wall was his despair. For at a point above
Greencrest, the wall, which then consisted of dry field stone, could
never be kept plumb, but obstinately bulged toward the east; and as
often as it was rebuilt, just so often it tottered to ruin. There was a
tradition that this singular freak was caused by the spirit of an Indian
chief whose grave lay in the garden, and whose resentment toward the
village improvements of a paleface civilization found vigorous
expression in kicking down the wall. It was at last decided to replace
the retaining wall with one of heavier proportions and more solid
masonry. On tearing down the wall the tradition of former years was
recalled, for there sat the grim skeleton of an Indian, fully armed for
war! The new wall included him as before, but to this day there is a
point in the wall where stone and mortar cannot long contain the Indian
spirit's wrath. This Indian sentinel was first discovered by William
Cooper when River Street was graded, and four generations of tradition
in the Cooper family testified to his tutelary character.

The banks of the Susquehanna, near the village, and the shores of
Otsego Lake, have yielded a plentiful harvest of Indian relics in
arrow-heads and spearpoints, with an occasional bannerstone, pipe, or
bit of pottery. Often as the region has been traversed in search of
relics, there seems always to be something left for the careful gleaner;
and the experienced eye, within a short walk along riverbank or
lakeshore, is certain to light upon some memento of the vanished Indian,