Last Paugassett Settlement Site
Indigenous Village
As you stand here, on the border of Woodbridge, Ansonia, and Seymour, take a moment to absorb your surroundings. This land was once home to the Paugassett people—the last settlement of this Pequot subgroup in this area of Connecticut before the devastating impacts of colonization disrupted their way of life.
For centuries, the Paugassett lived in harmony with the land, relying on its rivers, forests, and wildlife for sustenance. This forested region, with its hills and streams, was central to their culture and the Paugassett held an intimate bond with the land that sustained them.
But by the early 1700s, European settlers began to encroach on their territory, bringing violence, disease, and displacement. The Paugassett people were pushed to the margins, their culture and community fractured by colonization. Though this settlement endured for a time, it eventually became a poignant reminder of the deep and painful changes forced upon Indigenous peoples during this period of history.
In the early 1800s, the remnants of the Paugassett and other Indigenous peoples were still living in the area. When Bethany became a town in 1832, local leaders, including newly elected selectman Reuban Judd and Andrew Beecher, discovered that a small group of survivors—twelve individuals in total, including men, women, and children—were still living within the town's boundaries. Known as the "Macks," they had turned to subsistence living, hunting, fishing, and making baskets to support themselves.
Fearing the financial burden of supporting them, the town of Bethany purchased land for the group in Deerfield (now part of Ansonia), helping them build small huts to settle on the tract. But in 1833, tragedy struck: smallpox decimated the group. Only three survived—Eunice, a woman, and two children, Jim and Ruby—who were saved after being vaccinated by Dr. Joshua Kendall. The rest of the settlement, once a small community, was wiped out. The survivors were left with the ashes of their huts, which were burned down after the dead had been buried by a few local men, including Samuel Bassett, himself a survivor of the disease.
As you stand here today, you are walking on the very ground where the Paugassett once lived, hunted, and gathered. The soil beneath your feet was once trod by a community whose presence, though largely erased by history, still echoes through the landscape. The trees around you and the waters nearby were once the lifeblood of a people who knew these woods intimately.
This site offers a unique opportunity to reflect on both the resilience and the tragic fate of the Paugassett. While they no longer call this land home, their legacy remains embedded in the environment you experience now. The quiet of the woods speaks to their enduring connection to this place, even as colonization sought to destroy their way of life.
This land invites you not only to connect with the beauty of nature but also to honor a history that was nearly lost, giving you a deeper understanding of the true cost of colonization and its lasting impact on the people who once thrived here.
Photo: : Entrance to the cemetery on the Deerfield Reservation
This project was funded by The Connecticut Recreational Trails Program with a grant from the State of Connecticut administered trough the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection