USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 5
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(1) This story was related by an aged Indian woman, and was communicated to Mr. Bryant ; and Mr. Slingerland says that in cases of excessive grief it was not uncommon for the Indian to say, ".I will go and jump off Mas-wa-se-hi."
46
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
haps more plausible-though unconfirmed-tradition is, that the territory of the Muh-he-kun-nucks was once invaded by a hostile tribe ; that the former lay in am- bush for their enemy in the passes of the mountain. fell upon them and defeated them with great slaughter; and that the pile commemorates that event.
In a letter written from the Indian Town in No- vember, 1735, the writer says of this pile of stones, "it is raised over the first sachem who died after they (the Indians) came into this region. Each Indian as he goes by adds a stone to the pile. Captain Konkapot tells me it marks the boundary of land agreed upon in a treaty with the Mohawks. The Muhecunnucks being entitled to have all the country for their hunting ground within one day's journey in every direction from said pile. He also says a chief was buried there but the stone is added to keep distinct the monument." Kon- kapot was an intelligent and respectable Indian, and his statement is entitled to some consideration. But, whether marking the grave of a sachem or not, this, as well as other similar, though usually smaller, piles of stones, which were not uncommon in the country, probably had its origin in a mysterious religious custom of the Indians. This is more fully explained in the following abstract from a narrative, written in 1794. by Rev. Gideon Hawley of Marshpee, Massachusetts. of a missionary tour made by himself into the Indian country in New York, in May, 1753. Mr. Hawley had previously been a teacher amongst the Indians at Stockbridge, and was familiar with their habits and customs. In following an Indian path along the Schoharie Creek, accompanied by an Indian guide and some others, he says, "We came to a resting place, and breathed our horses, and slaked our thirst at the stream, when we perceived our Indian looking for a stone, which having found, he cast to a heap which for ages had been ac- cumulating by passengers like him, who was our guide. We inquired why he observed this rite. His answer was, that his father practiced it, and enjoined it on him. But he did not like to talk on the subject. I have observed in every part of the country, among every tribe of Indians, and among those where I now
47
THE MONUMENT.
am (Marshpee) such heaps of stones or sticks collected on the like occasion as the above. The largest heap I ever observed, is that large collection of small stones ·on the mountain between Stockbridge and Great Bar- rington. We have a sacrifice rock, as it is termed, be- tween Plymouth and Sandwich, to which stones and sticks are always cast by the Indians who pass it. This custom or rite is an acknowledgement of an invisible being. We may style him the unknown God, whom this people worship. This heap is his altar. The stone that is collected is the oblation of the traveler, which, if offered with a good mind, may be as acceptable as a con- secrated animal." (1)
The Rev. John Sergeant, in passing from Great Barrington to Stockbridge, in company with Ebenezer Poo-poo-nuck, an Indian interpreter, November 3d, 1734, on the occasion of his first visit to the Indians, observed this monument, and made the following rec- ord in his diary : "There is a large heap of stones, I suppose ten cart loads, in the way to Wnah-tu-kook, which the Indians have thrown together, as they passed by the place, for it us'd to be their custom every time any one passed by, to throw a stone to it. But what was the end of it they cannot tell; only they say their Fathers us'd to do so and they do it because it was the custom of their fathers. But Ebenezer says, he sup- poses it was designed to be an expression of their gratitude to the Supreme Being, that he had preserved them to see the place again."
The following incident related by Mr. Joseph K. Pelton, an aged and estimable citizen of this town, now deceased, is of a character somewhat similar to that re- corded by Mr. Hawley. Many years since, and pre- vious to the time when the pile was thrown down, Mr. Pelton met, at the tavern then kept above Monument Mountain, two Indians of the Stockbridge tribe, who had recently come to this part of the country from their homes in the far west, to visit the graves and hunting grounds of their ancestors. Entering into
(1) The narative of the Rev. Gideon Hawley, from which the above abstract is made, is found in Vol. 3, page 630, of the Docu- mentary History of New York.
48
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
conversation with Mr. Pelton, they made enquiries: about the location of the monument, and at their re- quest he accompanied them to the spot. After stand -.- ing for some time thoughtfully and in silence about , the pile, each cast a stone upon it and turned away. Mr. Pelton enquired of them the cause of its erection; they were unable or unwilling to answer : they gave- him no information, but, as in the case mentioned by Mr. Hawley, did not like to talk about it.
The Ice Gulf.
A remarkable feature in the geological formation in Great Barrington, is the Ice Gulf, situated in the ex- treme south-easterly corner of the town, near the New Marlboro line. Its location is about three.fourths of a mile west from the house of George L. Turner. The Gulf consists of a chasm of from eighty to one hun- dred rods in length, extending north-easterly and south -. westerly across the entire ridge of the mountain. The mountain-of solid rock-is here rent in twain, the width of the chasm, at its present bottom, measuring from forty to sixty feet, with sides of rock rising, near- ly perpendicularly, in some places to a height of about eighty feet. The bottom is composed of large square- edged blocks of stone, which for ages have fallen into the fissure, filling it, perhaps from a mere crevice, to its present width. The original depth of the chasm is, of course, unknown, but that it was formerly more than one hundred feet, is palpably evident to the be- holder. It is a wild gorge, into which the sun scarce- ly penetrates ; and ice is preserved, in the crevices of its bottom, far into the summer.
President Hitchcock,-who visited this spot-in the "Geology of Massachusetts," classes it among the "Purgatories," and attributes its formation to the ac- tion of water at a period when the surrounding land formed the ocean's shore. But some are of the opinion that it was produced by an earthquake or other great. natural disruption.
49
ELEVATIONS AND POSITIONS.
Elevations.
Earlier than 1828, a survey of the Housatonic River was made to test the practicability of constructing a canal from Derby, Conn., to the middle of Berkshire county. By this survey, as stated in the History of Berkshire, the ascent of the river from tide-water at Derby, was
To the top of Canaan Falls, 606 feet
To the Great Bridge, in Great Barrington, 645 feet
And the whole elevation to the foot of " Wheeler's dam," Pittsfield, 907 feet
By the survey of the Berkshire Railroad, the eleva- tions above mean tide, are as follows:
Connecticut state line,
703 feet
Town line-Great Barrington and Sheffield,
691 feet
Near foot of grade-between Great Barrington and Sheffield, 689 feet
Near the Collins House, Great Barrington, 726 feet
Near the works of Berkshire Woolen Company, 744 feet
Crossing of Williams river-Van Deusenville, 737 feet
West Stockbridge depot,
916 feet
The elevation at the Railroad crossing, on South street, will vary but little from 735 feet.
The East Mountain, east of the village, has an ele- vation of about 750 feet above the river meadows; and Mount Everett-the highest point in the south part of the county-is 2,624 feet higher than the sea.
Geographical Positions.
Latitude
Longitude west from Greenwich.
dg. m. s. 42 6 5 5
dg. m. s. 73 25 59 52
Mt. Everett-coast survey signal, *Spire of Congregational church, Great Barrington,
42 12 32 97
73 17 23 11
Spire of Congregational church, Sheffield,
42 7 28 53
73 16 56 14
Spire of Congregational church, Lenox,
42 22 39 23 73 12 38 21
*This refers to the spire of the old church, which occupied nearly the same position as the present one.
4
CHAPTER VI.
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS-THE HOUSATONIC INDIANS.
The Indians who inhabited the southern portion of Berkshire at the time of its settlement, were offshoots from a tribe which was scattered along the eastern borders of the Hudson River, from the vicinity of Al- bany, southward. This tribe was known to early New York and Massachusetts settlers as "River Indians," and is sometimes mentioned as "Mahikanders," in an- cient New York history. Those of this tribe who dwelt in the Housatonic Valley, were called from the river, Housatonic Indians ; and, after they were gath- ered in Stockbridge, were commonly known as Stock- bridge Indians, taking the name of that town. The proper name of the tribe, in their own language, is Muh-he-ka-neew in the singular, and Muh-he-ka-ne-ok in the plural, which, by their interpretation, signifies "The people of the great waters continually in mo- tion." The name is variously written. but the orthog- raphy corresponding with the common English pro- nunciation is Muh-he-con-nuc or Muh-he-kun-nuck. The tradition of the tribe asserts that they came from a distant country in the north-west, were scattered by a famine, and wandered through the wilderness to the shores of the Hudson, where finding fish and game in abundance, they built their wigwams and made a per- manent settlement. The same tradition affirms that the tribe was formerly very numerous, and able to bring together a thousand warriors.
At the time of the commencement of settlements in Berkshire, there were but few Indians residing within its limits, but that they had formerly been quite numer- ous in the south part of the county, and had dwelt
51
ABORIGINAL REMAINS.
here for a very long term of years is sufficiently attest- ed by their many places of interment and by the great number of their utensils which have been, and still are, frequently brought to light. Between the meadow and back roads, in the extreme north part of Sheffield, and on their reserved land, was one of their places of burial, the same mentioned by the Rev. James Brad- ford in the History of Berkshire, and not far distant from their Skatekook settlement. In Great Barring- ton, on the east side of the highway and just north of the Agricultural Ground, about forty-five years since, General Timothy Wainwright, in excavating a sand bluff, exhumed the remains of a large number of bodies, and many others were afterwards found on the same bluff, by the late Linus Manville. In each of these in- stances, some pieces of rude pottery were discovered, most of which crumbled on exposure to the air. Near the same spot, in later years, Samuel Whitwell, in dig- ging a cellar, came upon two Indian skeletons; and others have since been found in that vicinity. In pre paring the cellar of the house of the late David Lea- vitt, a mile south of the village, the remains of six bodies were disinterred. Other burial places have been found on the east side of the river above the Great Bridge; in this vicinity, the Rev. Sylvester Burt, in the History of Berkshire, says, "one man in digging thirteen post holes to secure his barn-yard, discovered the remains of six bodies." This was on the place now owned by Edson Sexton, formerly William Walker's, and within our own knowledge, the remains of one other body have since been found in excavating a well on the same premises. A little further north, at the gravel-bed of the late Lewis G. Ramsey, Indian bones have been frequently uncovered ; and isolated graves, apparently aboriginal, have also been found in various other localities. Relics of Indian occupancy, such as axes and pestles of stone, some of fine workmanship, have often been discovered here, the stone tomahawk more rarely, and to this day, after a hundred and fifty years of cultivation, the flint spear heads and arrow points are common in the soil. A few years since, the late Captain George Turner, in digging a post hole
52
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
near his house, east of the Great Bridge, unearthed a large number of arrow points in an unfinished state, apparently long since hidden and forgotten by their dusky owner ; and, more recently, Theodore M. Chapin, discovered a similar deposit in his door-yard in this village.
The river in former days (for with devious and ever changing course, it has flowed back and forth all over the meadows), skirted the bluffs along the village street. washed the base of Mount Peter, and came near the highway south of John Brewer's house. At this last mentioned spot, as John Burghardt, 3d,-"Corner John"-used to say, an old Indian told him, was the best fishing ground on the river. At the southerly slope of Mount Peter, arrow points abounded a few years since, and in the summer of 1878 in opening the stone quarry on the eastern side of this elevation, a well preserved mortar for pounding corn, was un- covered, cut, partly, perhaps, by the aid of natural agencies, in the surface of the solid rock, whilst at the same time, in evidence of the practical use of the mor- tar, a broken stone pestle was dug up in the soil at the foot of the rock. It is remembered, too, that not many years since, a fishing wier of Indian construction, com- posed of large stones, laid together in the form of the letter V, with its point down the stream, occupied the bed of the river, near the factory, south of the bridge, . the stones from which were to some extent used in the wall of the race-way, near by. The locations chosen by the Indians for their habitations, were for the most part on gravelly knolls or bluffs in proximity to the river, the waters of which furnished fish in abundance. Fish, together with wild animals of the forest, and the limited supply of corn and beans which the uncouth cultivation of their squaws produced, formed their principal means of subsistence.
When settlements were begun in Salisbury, Con- necticut, about 1720. there was a small village of In- dians at Weatogue in the north-easterly part of the town. and it is narrated by the late Judge Church, that there was "a well defined Indian trail or path, leading from the Stockbridge tribe along the valley of the
53
THE GREAT WIGWAM.
Housatonic, through Weatogue, to the Scaticoke set- tlement of Indians in Kent," and that "apple trees had sprung up, and were growing along that path through its whole extent, at unequal distances, accurately enough marking its course." (1) This path led by the Great Wigwam, and crossed the river at the old ford- way, east of the foot of Church street, in Great Bar- rington village, and continuing northerly on the east side of the river, passed over the point of the moun- tain, south of the dwelling lately of Mrs. Burt, through the so-called "Indian Pass," and thence northerly over Monument Mountain to Stockbridge. There is a tra- dition-and we have no doubt authentic-that the vi- cinity of the Great Wigwam was once the site of an Indian village. This locality is where the Congrega- tional Church now stands, and to the east and south of that building. The term "Great Wigwam" as used by the settling committee of the townships in 1726, and by other writers of that time refers rather to a lo- cality than to a building then standing, though it doubtless had reference to a building which had for- merly stood at that spot. The locality was "the Great Wigwam." The Rev. Sylvester Burt, in the History of Berkshire, says of the Great Wigwam, "This place was sometimes called the Castle, or rather, perhaps, the Great Wigwam, standing upon it. There is also a tra- dition that there was a considerable Indian settlement at this spot." It is also traditional that the Indians who resided here, frightened by the reverses and death of King Philip in the memorable war of 1676, aban- doned their settlements and fled to the westward. Their flight was, perhaps, precipitated, and their terror increased by the incursion of Major Talcot, who in that year surprised and brought slaughter upon a body of fleeing Indians, possibly at this very spot. In support of the tradition of the existence and abandonment of the settlement at the Great Wigwam, we have the evi- dence of Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, who visited this place in 1694, and mentions it in his journal,-quoted
(1) Historical address, delivered at Salisbury, by Hon. Sam- uel Church, October 20, 1841.
54
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
in a former chapter,-as "a place called Ousetonuck, formerly inhabited by Indians."
In the "Journal of the Second Esopus War,"-1663 -- printed in volume 4. page 54, of the "Documentary History of New York." allusion is made to a "tribe of Indians that dwelt half-way between Fort Orange and Hartford." which, with four other tribes had then re- cently assembled three miles inland from Claverack, for the purpose of concerting plans for hostilities against the Dutch of New York. This allusion may be supposed to refer to a tribe living in Great Barrington and Sheffield. It is not improbable that a few Indians returned to the Great Wigwam and dwelt there at a later date than the visit of Mr. Wadsworth, above men- tioned.
From our own researches, and from the large num- ber of relics and other evidences of Indian occupancy which have been discovered, we are fully of the opinion that a very considerable Indian population had its dwelling place in the towns of Great Barrington and Sheffield, long before the country was known to white men : and there is ground for the belief that the Great Wigwam was the central point, the council seat of this population. However great or small the native popu- lation of Southern Berkshire may formerly have been, the Indians were few in number at the time of the es- tablishing of the mission among them .- 1734. At that time. according to the history of the mission, hereafter quoted. Umpachene with four other families resided at Skatekook. on the reserved land. near the late resi- dence of William W. Warner, deceased, in the extreme north part of Sheffield. and Konkapot with four or five other families lived in Stockbridge. on land known as the Great Meadow, called Wnah-tu-kook, by the In- dians. The dwelling of Konkapot stood on a knoll, on the east side of the county road, a short distance north of the brook which bears his name. As stated by the Rev. D. D. Field, in the history of Berkshire there were then. but eight or ten Indian families in this part of the county.
CHAPTER VII.
THE INDIAN MISSION-1734-1736.
The mission of the Rev. John Sergeant to the Housatonic Indians is a part of the annals of Great Barrington, as it was here first established, and main- tained for a year and a half before its removal to Stock- bridge. The Rev. Samuel Hopkins of West Springfield, (an uncle of the minister of the same name, afterwards settled in Great Barrington,) has the credit of having -originated this mission ; he took a lively interest in its establishment and success, and, in 1753, published its history, having access to the diary of Mr. Sergeant, then recently deceased, from which he made frequent quotations. To this history, copies of which are now rare, the present generation is indebted, for much of the information relative to the mission and the Indians, which has been printed in later years. He says of the Indians, that they had a small settlement in the north- west corner of Connecticut government, ( Weatogue in Salisbury,) and a few families resided "on the Housa- tunnuk river or at Housatunnuk, which goes by the name of Sheffield," and that there were four or five families at each Skatekook (1) in Sheffield, and Wnah- tukook in Stockbridge.
The attention of Mr. Hopkins was directed to these Indians by his neighbor, Ebenezer Miller, who had his information from Housatunnuk, and who informed him
(1) Skate kook, or properly Schaghticoke, according to Isaac Hunting, Esq., of Pine Plains, N. Y., is "where the small stream empties into the large one and Corn lands adjoin." At this point the Green River formerly emptied into the larger Housatonic, and the adjoining Corn lands of the Indians were the "Clear Mead- ow" and the bluff to the south of it. Rev. Mr. Slingerland gives the pronunciation "Scot-koak," and he also informs us that " Wnokh-tuq-kook" signifies the "head of the stream."
56
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
that Konkapot, the principal man among them, " was strictly temperate, a very just and upright man in his dealings, a man of prudence, and industrious in busi- ness," and disposed to embrace the Christian Religion. The sympathies of Mr. Hopkins were so much enlisted as to induce him to call upon Colonel John Stoddard at Northampton, March 11th, 1734, and consult him with reference to sending a religious teacher to the Indians, and also to confer with the Rev. Stephen Wil- liams of Longmeadow. Through the influence of these gentlemen, the subject of providing a religious teacher for the Indians was laid before the "Board of Commis- sioners for Indian affairs" in Boston, with whom funds for religious purposes were deposited. The Commis- sioners requested Messrs. Hopkins and Williams to visit the Indians, and to ascertain their feelings with regard to the establishment of a mission amongst them. Governor Belcher had then recently honored Konkapot with a commission of Captain, and Umpachene with a commission of Lieutenant, and these chiefs, accompa- nied by Jehoiakim Van Valkenburgh, in the capacity of interpreter, went to Springfield in May, 1734, to receive the honors conferred upon them. They were there waited upon by Messrs. Hopkins and Williams, and the subject of the proposed mission was presented for their consideration, and not unfavorably received; and it was arranged that these ministers should visit the Indians at Housatonic in July, hold a conference, and lay the matter before them. At the time appointed, Mr. Hopkins being detained by sickness, the Rev. Nehemiah Bull, in his stead, went with Mr. Williams to Housatonic on the 8th of July. The Indians were assembled. a conference held, and after four days deliberation on the part of the Indians, they consented to receive a religious teacher. Messrs. Bull and Williams were soon afterwards authorized by the Com- missioners to employ a missionary, and made arrange- ments with Mr. John Sergeant, a graduate and tutor of Yale College, to officiate in that capacity.
In October, 1734, Mr. Sergeant in company with Mr. Bull, made his first visit to the Indians. They left Westfield on the afternoon of the 11th, "designing," as
57
SERGEANT'S VISIT TO INDIANS.
Mr. Sergeant records, "to lodge at a house about fifteen miles upon the road," but darkness overtaking them, they spent the night in the woods, without fire or shelter. They arrived at "Housatunnuk" the next day "a little before night," having traveled "thro' a most doleful wilderness, and the worst road, perhaps, that ever was rid." Giving notice of their arrival, these gentlemen desired the Indians to meet them on the next day at a point "near the middle between the places where they lived," for one half of them lived four miles above and the other half about the same distance below the spot designated. The Indians being assem- bled, Mr. Sergeant made a short discourse, aided by his interpreter, Ebenezer, (1) having in his audience about twenty adult Indians. The place of this meeting was evidently on the east side of the river, at the upper end of Pixley street, and in the vicinity where the mis- sion house was shortly after built. Mr. Sergeant was in temperament, as well as by previous inclination, well adapted to the position he had assumed, and though necessarily teaching with the aid of an interpreter, made a favorable impression upon his hearers at the very outset. On the next Thursday another meeting was held, at the dwelling of Lieutenant Umpachene at Skatekook. Umpachene's Wigwam was quite commo- dious, "fifty or sixty feet long," as Mr. Hopkins states.
At this meeting the interpreter, Ebenezer Poopoo- nuck, made a profession of his faith in the Christian religion, and was baptized by Mr. Bull. At the same time the necessity of gathering together in one place, the Indians residing at Skatekook and Wnatukook, was discussed, and it was agreed that they should dwell together for the coming winter, at a point about mid way between their two settlements, where a building should be erected for a church and school; "the place (selected) being well accommodated with wood and water, and also near some English families, in one of which Mr. Sergeant might live while he served them." But it was understood that this arrangement should continue only until the next spring. On the next Sab- bath Mr. Sergeant made two discourses, Jehoiakim (1) Ebenezer Poopoonuck-an Indian.
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