The prevailing version of history has been that Native Americans didn’t actually live in the Berkshire area prior to the founding of Indiantown (Stockbridge). They were just passing through, for hunting, trade or interacting with other tribes. Well, it’s easy to see how, if colonists of European extraction were appropriating Native American land, that would be a convenient truth.
But a series of archaeological digs and research is amassing evidence that Indigenous people, known as the ancestors to their Mohican descendants, maintained permanent residences here prior to the time of contact. The latest evidence, and perhaps the most convincing, is the discovery of a probable Indigenous dwelling behind the newly discovered first meetinghouse site on Main Street in Stockbridge.
Stockbridge archaeological dig involves community, aims to correct historical interpretation
Joseph Park’s bicentennial history of Pownal, Vt., tends toward semi-permanent winter hunting camps as the extent of Native American presence, yet he also describes the many artifacts collected along the Hoosic River by Alonzo Whipple in the 19th century and the nearly 500 that Gordon Sweeney accumulated in the 20th century. Most of Sweeney’s are at the University of Vermont, although some reside at the Solomon Wright Library in Pownal.
When it came time to relocate a bridge in Pownal in 1979, Peter Thomas of the Vermont Agency of Transportation cited the discovery of those two men that there were arrow and spear points going back to 4000 B.C., concluding an “annual settlement pattern.” There were also tantalizing stories of cornfields, suggesting more permanent residence.
The narrative clarified in 1990 when David W. Parrott, archaeologist with the Mahingan Institute in Monterey, discovered a variety of stone tools and traced the source of the stone not to the west but to an ancient quarry in Monterey. These seemed to indicate a…
Williams last rocked a mohawk 20 years ago (Image: Ayda Field-Williams/Instagram) 
Fire in a garage at 2 Mohican TrailHouse fire: On July 10, a Mohican Trail house caught fire. Firefighters arrived and observed smoke pushing out from second floor eaves, with the main body of the fire appearing to be located in the garage. Police notified the homeowner who said he was out of town with his family, and no one was in the house. Firefighters used a hose line to attack the fire with water. They forced open the front door and found no one inside. They searched the house for extension and found a second-floor room above the garage to be affected by the fire. A second hose line was stretched for use fighting the fire in this area. Volunteer firefighters were dispatched for help. Greenville and Hartsdale fire departments also assisted until the fire was out. The fire investigator noted that the house was under construction, and the garage seemed to be the place where work materials were being stored. The cause of the fire could not be specifically determined. A contractor arrived on scene to board up the house during the homeowner’s absence.