HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS
The Indians who lived in this area were the Wabanaki, who were in the Abenaki union. The Indians were here for about 500 years. After the Revolutionary War, the Indians were pushed out and moved to Canada. In about 1920-1930 they started coming back.
The Passamaquoddy and Penobscot who live north of here have been in the news because people are trying to take away Indian land and rights to hunt and fish.
What we are trying to do here in the Milliken Mills Trail project is to preserve, see and hear something we value so people can envision and experience what happened before “civilization.”
We need:
The Indians used our area for summer settlements for hunting and fishing. The Sokokis Indians used the Saco River for transportation to the coast.
Indian tribes didn’t own the land; they shared it with other tribes. But the tribes didn’t co-mingle; they had separate areas to hunt and reside in. If one tribe had a shortage of food or other need, they asked permission to use another tribe’s area.
The bridges we have now weren’t here. Rivers were boundary lines between tribes. People only crossed them to hunt or forage, not to live or grow food.
The Indians grew corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. All the beans in the world came from Native Americans (from North and South America). They traded with each other. It was a 1-2 year journey to the Yucatan Peninsula, where many crop plants originated.
Dwellings--the Indians’ permanent dwelling was a longhouse. When they were here, they used tipis or wigwams made of bark; they were temporary dwellings and had a vent hole to let out the smoke when they made a fire for cooking.
The Passamaquoddy and Penobscot who live north of here have been in the news because people are trying to take away Indian land and rights to hunt and fish.
What we are trying to do here in the Milliken Mills Trail project is to preserve, see and hear something we value so people can envision and experience what happened before “civilization.”
We need:
- habitat for animals
- habitat for people to get away from civilization
- areas that remind us of the past
The Indians used our area for summer settlements for hunting and fishing. The Sokokis Indians used the Saco River for transportation to the coast.
Indian tribes didn’t own the land; they shared it with other tribes. But the tribes didn’t co-mingle; they had separate areas to hunt and reside in. If one tribe had a shortage of food or other need, they asked permission to use another tribe’s area.
The bridges we have now weren’t here. Rivers were boundary lines between tribes. People only crossed them to hunt or forage, not to live or grow food.
The Indians grew corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. All the beans in the world came from Native Americans (from North and South America). They traded with each other. It was a 1-2 year journey to the Yucatan Peninsula, where many crop plants originated.
Dwellings--the Indians’ permanent dwelling was a longhouse. When they were here, they used tipis or wigwams made of bark; they were temporary dwellings and had a vent hole to let out the smoke when they made a fire for cooking.