a sacred piece of indigenous land in northern New Jersey is now back in the hands of indigenous people the area known as Split Rock Mountain was officially transferred this week to the Ramapough who long used it as an ancestral site as Ted Goldberg reports it's a landmark movement that was centuries in the making after nearly 300 years the Ramapough people have regained the land around Split Rock Mountain the 54 Acres across New Jersey and New York are sacred to the Ramapough and have suffered from years of neglect the elders and women were going to the forest and pray and we would say what are they doing they would say Indian stuff that meant mind your own business and be quiet later on in the late 50s they started burning crosses up there which is probably no doubt easily see for 30 or 40 miles there's beer bottles and you know stuff like that they're desecrating this sacred site it's a big change of pace for the Ramapough who have fought elsewhere to defend their ability to use their land condemnation zoning taxes I mean it it's really we just had uh settled a court battle with uh the town of Mahwah because they said we couldn't have over two people praying on our property the Land Conservancy of New Jersey raised more than three hundred thousand dollars from private donors to buy the land from the Rockland County Sewer District afterwards they donated it to the Ramapo who previously owned parts of the land but not all of it so many years we're losing property this is one property that we can't afford to lose because it is so sacred to Native Americans I looked down on Metropolitan New York right up to the base of the mountain and thinking how fortunate this was saved from development so far how could we preserve it David Johnson is an archaeologist who studies native cultures around the world you should be seeing a turtle effigy all right I will point it out for you he says the Ramapough Revere Split Rock Mountain and he's glad this land is back under their control it's important to help preserve some of the cultural heritage of the Native Americans who lived here what 10 12 14 or more thousand years before the first Europeans arrived Split Rock Mountain is more than just a holy sight for the Ramapo people it's also a historical one they say this land played a huge role in America gaining its independence more than 200 years ago without the rainbow literally there'd be no United States of America without allowing the bridge the use of the pramapo pass the only way that they could reinforce their troops was off the Atlantic or March them down from Canada by us us my elders allowing George Washington to place 5 000 French troops into Ramapough pass it totally eliminated any strategic advantage and or surprise the next issue for the Ramapo is familiar to anybody who lives in New Jersey high property taxes under their current setup they could owe up to 85 000 per year it's unfair it's unreasonable and we're calling on early elected officials here today to please work with the land Alliance to make sure that these property taxes are reduced leaders at the ceremony say they'll work with the Ramapough and figure out a solution at Split Rock Mountain I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news