Native American Lecture

We would like to thank Sheryl Robinson for her wonderful presentation on Native Americans in Connecticut this evening. The presentation was well attended by around fifty people.  Mrs. Robinson took us from the earliest neo-paleolithic evidence through to the Woodland tribes and the development of a trading culture along the North Atlantic coast, to the dark days of the 1600’s during which a combination of long-standing tribal rivalries, conflict with the overwhelming presence of the English settlers, and devastating plague completely destroyed Native American culture in the region.  Following this we looked at the earliest written evidence of Native Americans in New Hartford, found in early land deeds were Native Americans from the Tunxis tribe and the Hartford region bought land in New Hartford; we then turned to the eventual relocation of the same groups to Wisconsin and the creation of the Brothertown Village, a group of Connecticut and Rhode Island tribes: Narragansett, Pequot, Mohegan, Niantic, Tunxis, Wangunk,  and Montauk; which has since formed its own distinct culture.