CWTA - Resources - History Of Connecticut's Water Trails



Connecticut Water Trails Association

"We humans must come again to a moral comprehension of the earth and air. We must live according to the principle of a land ethic. The alternative is that we shall not live at all.

N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa~

Table Of Contents

Connecticut Water Trails

Basic Concepts

History Of Connecticut's Water Trails

Native Americans

Connecticut Water Trails Program

History Of Connecticut's Water Trails

Native Americans

The Paugussetts

Location

The Paugussetts, known as the Paugussett Nation, lived in villages along the Connecticut coast.

Name Origin

The word "Paugussett" literally translated means "where the river widens out."

Language Spoken

Algonquin. Y-dialect

Connecticut Village Locations

Aspetuck - Easton

Machamux - Green's Farms

Norwalke - Norwalk

Pequonnock - Bridgeport

Sasco - Southport

Saugatuck - Westport

Uncoway - Fairfield

Stratford

Population

Culture

History

Only a handful of Paugussetts remained when the white man first arrived in the area now called Westport. Reservations were set up for the Indians soon after the colonists arrived. In 1659, the General Court in Fairfield ruled that 80 acres of land should be held for the Paugussett Indians at Golden Hill - named after the corn grown on the hill - located in Bridgeport. Over time, however, the tribe was forced to sell off its land to succeeding generations of New Englanders who inhabited the area. Today, only one log cabin on one-quarter of an acre of land remains there.

More Information:

Golden Hill Paugusettes