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Local Indigenous Peoples

Link to A history of Connecticut's Golden Hill Paugussett tribe by Charles Brilvitch in the catalog
Link to The long journeys home : the repatriations of Henry 'Ōpūkaha'ia and Albert Afraid of Hawk by Nick Bellantoni in the catalog
Link to Connecticut's indigenous peoples : what archaeology, history, and oral traditions teach us about their communities and cultures by Lucianne Lavin in the catalog
Link to History of the Indians of Connecticut from the earliest known period to 1850 by John William De Forest in the catalog
Link to Map of Connecticut, circa 1625 : Indian trails, villages, sachemdoms by the Connecticut Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the catalog
Link to Rockshelters of southwestern Connecticut : their prehistoric occupation and use by Ernest A. Wiegand in the catalog

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Early Native American Settlements

Fairfield’s coastal geography and plentiful natural resources attracted humans for thousands of years before European settlers stumbled upon the “fair fields” that Native Americans called Uncoway. This area provided indigenous peoples with game, fish, abundant sweet water, and fertile land to cultivate. During the Late Woodland Period (1500-1650), Uncowas, Sasquas, Maxumux, and Pequonnocks—subdivisions of the Paugussett Indians—inhabited the coastal areas, locating their villages of wigwams along the inland waterways. Another clan of Paugussetts called the Aspetucks occupied land several miles further inland, in the area that is now Weston and Easton.

The Native American population of southern New England was probably quite large before contact with European explorers. However, in the early 1600s epidemics of smallpox, measles, and other diseases to which the natives had no immunity decimated their populations, possibly by ninety-five percent in this area. By the time English colonists arrived as settlers in the 1630s, the Paugussett villages in the lower Housatonic River Valley were small and scattered. The Paugussetts were not an aggressive people, and they did not resist the English moving onto their land as the Pequots of southeastern Connecticut had done.

Ironically, a swamp along Fairfield’s coast became the setting for the final, violent episode in the saga of the Pequot Indians, who fled their home territory in Mystic (Missituck), Connecticut, after the English massacred hundreds of women, children and older men by setting a village ablaze. The warriors were preparing to defend a fortification at another location on that fateful night of May 26, 1637. When they discovered the atrocity that had taken place in their village, shock and disbelief overwhelmed them and they fled westward, away from the territory of enemy Narragansetts and Mohegans, allies of the English. Continue readings from Fairfield Museum & History Center

 

Learn More About the History, Culture and Current Social Concerns of Native Peoples

Link to Celebrate Native American Culture Resource Guide
Link to Indigenous Medicine resource guide
Link to Native American Heritage Month resource guide
Link to Native American Arts & Crafts resource guide

Link to Indigenous American Heritage Resource Guide Series Homepage