February 25, 1988 - Our Past Is PresentPage 8A/The Suffolk Times /February 25, 1988
Our Past Is Present
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
It's hard to imagine what the East End
looked like when the first settlers arrived.
One thing we know is that the Indians who
lived along our shores did little to change
the land. Most of these Indians lived
where seafood was for the taking. Re-
mains of clams, oysters, mussels, scallops
and whelks can be seen in the broken
white remains of shell heaps scattered
throughout our area. Here at the shore
edge the Indians gathered the spoils from
the sea and indulged in their bounty. In
our creeks alongside the bay you can often
find these layers of shells, these bits of
history, that tell us where centuries ago
the Indian harvested his shellfish.
In a creek more upland we find shells
spread over a much larger area. Research
tells us it is a fort site, a place where
Indians lived behind a log perimeter for
protection from marauding tribes. At the
edge of the creek was their ever -ready
food supply. These forts were the first
permanent establishment on our land.
There was no pollution, of course, in
those days for white man had not left his
murky footprint on the land. In the woods
that covered the gently rolling land
around our creeks, the deer, wolf, beaver,
bear, muskrat and, of course, the common
squirrel and rabbit of today provided the
Indian with his meat. We know Indians
were hunters for arrowheads are still
being found, evidence of long -ago days
when a swift arrow brought down a rabbit,
deer or even a man.
I know the wonder that spread over me
years ago when I picked up an arrowhead
in our back pasture just after it had been
plowed and seeded. Who had made it out
of the hard, white quartz that typifies most
of the points found on the East End? Who
pulled the bow? Was it a skilled hunter or
a young brave first trying his skills down
by the pond? It was not a perfect head by
any means but to me it carried roots back
to those early days when nature had
molded a balance system out of eons of
time.
Our island is a relatively young island
in terms of geological time and yet it had
the perfect ingredients needed to make a
paradise; abundant fish and wildlife, land
Focus on
Nature
that would produce crops with little ef-
fort, a forest of virgin timber, a climate
temperate enough for most, water that
sparkled with purity, and great marshes
that bordered the creeks and nourished the
sea. It was a time when innocence ruled
and the red man was part of the natural
order of things. His footprint was washed
away with each new tide.
Sixteen -forty rings a bell in the hearts
of both the north and south shore residents
for it was thereabout that settlers from
Connecticut came to these shores to find
a new way of life. I blame none of those
hardy folk for despoiling our land. As a
matter of fact, most of us take our hats off
to them and bow to their endurance and
foresight.
Slowly settlements sprang up. Lands
were deeded and property bargained for
from the Indians. It's easy to ridicule
those bargain parcels but one must re-
member that if we were at those bargain-
ing tables,not today but in those early
days we, too, probably would have had
our bargain share. It's all too easy to
criticize things of the past for there are
none from those days to defend them.
What we can do today is criticize and act
to prevent wrong doings that are going on
right now
The early settler lived close to the land
and knew all too well the value of his
farmland, woodlot, fish and wildlife, and
marshlands. They were the fiber of his life
and on these his destiny would be built.
Today we have gotten away from living
close to the land and those values have
been lost by most and shifted to other
fields unrelated to the land
Those were the times when shells were
being made into wampum by the Indians.
The great hard clam with its purple inner
section made the dark beads, the white
shell parts were also used but were of less
value. Where long sections of beads were
needed, the spiral-center whelk was fash-
ioned into rewarding hues of pinks and
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
RIBBED MUSSELS - -Not only were clams, oysters, scallops and
whelks readiiy available for the Indians that lived along our creeks and
bays but the ribbed mussels were always used because they were the
easiest to gather and most abundant.
yellows. It seems impossible for us to
think of these beads being drilled without
help of modern tools but the Indian's skill
and patience with his crude drills did just
that. It was a time when traders from the
west would come to "the island of shells"
and trade the wampum which was then the
accepted means of barter for pipes,
knives, pots, clothing,etc.
White Man Manufactures Wampum
All went well using the Indians'
wampum as a means of barter until some
ingenious white man created a machine
that could drill quicker and made better
wampum than that of the Indians. In the
making of a machine centuries of toil
were swept aside. Wampum was readily
available and flooded the market places
with its counterfeit beads. Soon wampum
had lost its value.
As well as using local shells for wam-
pum the Indian was able to get clay in
nearby creeks and bays which he dug out
of the rich veins that outcropped along the
shores for his pots and cookware. Under
much of the East End we find these veins
of Gardiner's Island clay coming to the
surface and it is this clay that the Indians
found as a valuable resource. Many large
pots have been found in Indian burial
grounds and can be seen in local muse-
ums. The bottoms of these cook pots were
pointed so they could be propped up with
stones around the fire. Cooking was a big
part of Indian life and pots were of great
importance to the everyday life of the
Indian.
I can remember when I was in high
school going to these veins of clay with
our art teacher. We dug in the moist clay
and brought it back to class where it was
shaped and fired into bowls. The clay was
rather grainy and not as easy to work as
the school clay but I'm sure if we were the
Indians of yesteryear it would have been
just fine for our purpose.
For the casual observer clay in its raw
stage can best be seen along the high
banks of the north shore, the west side of
Robins Island, the great south cliffs of
Montauk and, of course, where the clay
got its name, off the east side of
Gardiner's Island where the water is
murky with its dissolved clay.
Clay was an important part of the econ-
omy at the turn of the century on the north
shore where bricks were made. Even
today old bricks pulled from foundations
and walls with Sage and Sanford on them
show their heritage.
Much has changed since the first In-
dian encounter with the white man here on
Long Island. However, there are still
Shinnecock Indians living in Southamp-
ton and our island is sprinkled with Indian
names like Montauk, Aquebogue,
Cutchogue, Seatauket, Mattituck, Nisse-
quogue, and Patchogue.
What a sad yet wonderful heritage our
Long Island Indians gave to our land.
When many of us are wrapped up in the
present vogue of tracing our roots perhaps
it would be well to slow down and think
back. It was the Indians who first enjoyed
the treasure chest of natural wonders here
on the island we call our home.
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