Wawyachtonoc

Wawyachtonoc were an Algonquian-speaking Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands who lived in east-central New York and northwest Connecticut.

Wawyachtonoc

A map of the traditional territory of Mahican-affiliated tribes. The Wawyachtonoc are shown in dark green in the bottom right.
Total population
extinct as a tribe merged into Stockbridge–Munsee Community, Brothertown Indians, and Schaghticoke Tribal Nation
Regions with significant populations
Northeastern Connecticut, later New York
Languages
An Eastern Algonquian language
Religion
Indigenous religion, Moravian Church
Related ethnic groups
Paugussett, Mohican Confederacy

Name

The ethnonym Wawyachtonoc is often translated as "eddy people" or "people of the curved channel."^{[1] [2]}

Their name is also rendered Wyachtonok, Wawayachtonoc, and Wyaghtonok.

Territory

The traditional territory of the Wawyachtonoc extended throughout what is now Columbia County and Dutchess County, New York, and Litchfield County, Connecticut.^[1]

Villages

• Weantinock, the tribe's primary village, situated along the Housatonic River near present New Milford^[3]
• Bantam^[1]
• Pachgatgoch (present day Schaghticoke Indian Reservation - Kent, CT) "Where the river forks" at the mouth of the Housatonic R. and Ten Mile R.
• Pomperaug^[1]
• Scaticook^[1]
• Shekomeko (Shecomeco),^[1] meaning "great village," 2 miles south of present Pine Plains, NY^[4]
• Weataug,^[1] meaning "wigwam place," likely on the Housatonic River between Washining Lake and Canaan, Connecticut, near present Salisbury^[5][6]
• Wechquadnach,^[1] meaning "wrapped around by the mountain," on the Eastern side of Indian Lake, Litchfield County^[6][7]

History

In 1687, the Wyachtonok, originally subgroup of Paugussett, joined the Mohican Confederacy.

The majority of the Wawyachtonoc were converted to Christianity, beginning in 1740, by Moravian missionaries.^[8] During this period Wawyachtonoc populations became concentrated at the Moravian missions at Shekomeko and Scaticook.^[9] Some of them moved to Moravian Indian communities in Pennsylvania.^[1]

In the 1830s, some Wawyachtonoc were displaced to Wisconsin. These Wawyachtonoc descendants are now part of the Stockbridge–Munsee Community and Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin, while those that remained in Connecticut are part of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, a state-recognized tribe.