Southold Museum, Greenport, and the Development of the Long Island Railroad
by Nancy Liang
Usually on our Friday trips, I fall asleep in the back of the van until we reach our destination. On this trip to Southold, I stayed up to admire all of the picturesque little towns and vineyards that we drove past. Long Island has a sparse population made up of tiny clusters of houses spread far apart from other communities. The island is split at the end and made up of a northern “fork” and a southern “fork.” For this field trip, we drove from our campus on the South Fork to the town of Southold on the North Fork of Long Island. We stopped at the village of Greenport within in Southold and sat down at the amphitheater to learn a bit about the development of Long Island.
The North Fork of Long Island was settled by the 17th century. It had access to the Long Island Sound, which was a calmer and more protected body of water than the Atlantic Ocean. The Sound connected to New York City, which made port towns, such as Greenport, very popular docking places for ships coming into the Eastern Seaboard. By the late 18th century to the early 19th century, Greenport’s economy depended on shipbuilding and maritime trade. Merchant ships often docked at Greenport and offloaded products for local communities before continuing onwards to New York City. Now, Greenport’s docks generate more income from tourism than from commercial shipping. Occasionally, tall ships and other historic boats (including a replica of a Viking boat!) dock at Greenport. In this picture, you can see a fire boat. In the background of the picture to the right of the boat is Claudio’s, a restaurant that was involved in the alcohol smuggling rings during the Prohibition Era.
Aside from ships, the Long Island Railroad also stops at Greenport. Greenport houses the Railroad Museum of Long Island.
Although we did not visit that museum, we did have the opportunity to learn a bit more about the creation of the Long Island Railroad. The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) is the largest commuter railroad in the United States. It is also one of the earliest railroads developed and one of the most disorganized and inefficient transportation systems in the United States. It was built in the 1860s and opened in 1884 as a way to travel between New York City and Boston. The train was much faster than horse and buggy transportation, so people could take the ferry from Manhattan to Brooklyn, take the LIRR out to Greenport, and then take a ferry up towards Boston. With the development of better technology, trains could go over hills and take tighter turns, and it became easier to take trains straight from Manhattan to Boston without taking the LIRR to Greenport first. The LIRR lost revenue and went bankrupt seven times by the 1940s. Instead of transporting people, the railroad began making deals with farmers on the eastern end of Long Island to transport their products into the city. Because of this, most LIRR tracks radiate out from the city with very few interconnecting trains to link different railroad lines together.
It was very interesting learning about how the history of Greenport affected the development of the local community and the ships that dock there today. I also enjoyed learning about the creation of the Long Island Railroad. I take the LIRR from my home to college, and I have never really thought about the reason behind why all of the different rail lines don’t link together.
Soapstone Pot: An Indicator of Native American Lives and Cultures in Archaic Period
by Joanna Zhu
Without any prior knowledge of rocks, what came to mind when you first heard of Soapstone? When I first saw soapstone pot on display in Southold Indian Museum, I thought it was something the natives used for bathing because of its name. However, it served the same function as our pots in the kitchens: for cooking. Soapstone, also known as steatite, is a type of soft and heat resistant rock; which was perfect for the natives to carve out pots and bowls from during the Archaic Period. The nomadic tribes would bury the soapstone pots underground and retrieve them once they return to the same area, so that they do not have to carry these heavy items while migrating.
The museum has a fabulous collection of these soapstone pots and bowls. Most preserved very well from being buried underground and were discovered by local farmers when plowing the lands. Many of the soapstone pots and bowls have drilled holes on them. Why would the natives drill holes in their utensils? Holes on the sides were probably holes used to repair cracked pots; leather strap was likely used to hold the pieces together through the holes. What about the holes on the bottom? If our pots or bowls have holes on the bottom, that meant their lives as utensils ended, and this was the same for the natives. They ceremonially killed the pots and bowls by drilling these “kill holes” through their bottoms when the owner died. The natives believed they released the spirit from the utensils through these holes, and now they are ready to be buried with the owner so that the spirit can follow the owner to the afterlife. From these everyday items, we can remake what life and culture was like for these Native Americans 3000 years ago.
Picture 1: Many soapstone pots and bowls dated back 3000 years ago were dug up in Long Island. The middle right pot showed a large crack down its side, holes next to the crack, and traces of a strap through the holes; this indicated repairment was done by the natives. (photo permission of Southold Indian Museum)
Picture 2: Some fragments of soapstone pots and bowls were found. The upper pot showed the “kill hole” on the bottom. It was ceremonially killed and was likely buried with the owner as part of Native American practices and beliefs. (photo permission of Southold Indian Museum)
The Native American Tradition of Wampum
by Charlotte Brennan
At the Southold Indian Museum, there was a great display on the background of Wampumpeage, the Algonquin word for “a white string of beads,” often shorted to wampum. These beads were woven into intricate designs that represented past events, stories, laws, and ideas important to the Native Americans. According to the display at the museum, wampum was used for meetings, to elect chiefs, for adoptions, in ceremonies, for treaties, deeds, gifts, mourning purposes, and as decoration. However, one interesting fact that I didn’t know before was that until contact with the European settlers, it was never used as currency.
The European settlers began to appropriate wampum as currency in the 17th century because their home countries wouldn’t let them use gold and silver to make coins. The colonists then decided it was a good idea to continue the Native American tradition of wampum for their own purposes. In addition, the white beads were very plentiful compared to gold. Colonial leaders started to assign specific monetary value to the beads. For example, according to the museum display, six white beads equaled one penny.
However, wampum wasn’t a perfect currency. It had to be traded in strings so that the person receiving it could make sure that it was good quality. This meant that the wampum had to be bored through the center. Also, Native Americans were particularly strict about the quality of the wampum and would refuse beads that they deemed substandard. This created a problem when colonial governments received poor wampum that the Indians wouldn’t accept.
Courtesy of Southold Indian Museum
Here are some examples of wampum beads that were typically used. You can see how small they were and how there’s a whole right through the middle. This display also includes disc beads which were an earlier form of wampum and were significantly larger than their successors. On the right, is a shell that would be eventually made into wampum. This is really interesting because it’s cool to imagine how they took a large shell and divided it up into tiny beads.
Courtesy of Southold Indian Museum
Here are some necklaces made of wampum beads that I assume would not be used for monetary purposes but more of the ceremonial or ornamental uses that were originally done by the Native Americans. The “unusual” necklace on the right is especially interesting because, at first, I thought the pointy shells were shark teeth. It shows how diverse the wampum shells were and how many cool, different shapes you could make them into.
Primitive Weapons of Native Americans
by Brendan Hallinan
At the Southold Indian Museum, we saw a large collection of points and weapons used by native peoples. The most notable of which were the Clovis point, Folsom point, and the Atlatl. The Clovis point is a fluted point that was fixed to the end of a spear for the hunting of megafauna in North America. This style of point dates back to the Clovis people (8000-1000 b.c.) who are believed to have migrated to N. America from northeast Asia. It is very interesting to learn how historians have traced the migration of people across the continent through the modifications in their hunting tools. The oldest Folsom point for example was discovered in the south/Midwest and dates back 6000-8000 b.c., coinciding with the die off of the megafauna of N. America such as the mammoth. So, from the change in style of spear point we learned a few things, how quickly these wandering people moved from coast to coast, what they were hunting, and what path they took. By tracing the discovered points’ locations and ages it is believed the Clovis then later the Folsom cultures moved down the west coast to modern day Mexico then into South America and east through the southern states and up the east coast. This route helps to explain why the west and Midwest have much older artifacts and native culture than the east and specifically Long Island.
Another fascinating artifact on display at the Southold Indian Museum is the Atlatl. The Atlatl is a primitive weapon that predates the bow and arrow and is likely a precursor to it. The Atlatl utilizes a long, weighted shaft with a small point that resembles a modern arrow. A short stick with a counterweight is used to launch the Atlatl point upwards of 100 yards (pictured). The hunting weapon required a running start and good coordination to keep the shaft parallel to the ground for a good launch. It is a simple tool to construct and requires less material and engineering than a bow and arrow. The shaft weights of the Atlatl spear became a cultural art where they would have ornate sculpting that made them a decorative piece and an ineffective as a practical weight. This suggests the Atlatl’s importance to Native American societies.
Picture 1: The Clovis and Folsom points are pictured in the center of the image. There is a distinct difference in the shape of each as well as similarities between the two fluted points. Surrounding these two points are other points used throughout N. and S. America by various native peoples. Photo by Brendan Hallinan, Credit to Southold Indian Museum.
Picture 2: Pictured here is the Atlatl handle with its counterweight. The handle and twine used to attach the weight are made from organic material and decay shortly after being buried. In the background is a modernized version of an atlatl spear with feathering instead of a rock weight. Between the handle and modern shaft is an example of a traditional spear which had a sharpened rock point attached by string or twine. Photo by Brendan Hallinan, Credit to Southold Indian Museum.
Long Island Native American Food and Agriculture
by Jeffrey Kraemer
On our trip to the Southold Indian Museum, a couple of the cases about what they ate and growing and gathering food in the Long Island area peaked my interest. I saw that one of the most important systems in growing their food was the concept of the ‘three sisters’ where corn, beans, and squash were grown together to maximize productivity. The corn provides shade for the squash and structure for the beans, while the beans supply nutrients back into the soil, and the squash deters herbivores. Consuming all of these food items together provides almost all the nutrition humans need. Besides food the husks from the corn served other uses like making cordage, starting fires, and wrapping things to cook. In addition to the growing of these crops they gathered things like nuts, berries, sap, tea, seaweed, honey, mushrooms, and onions to name a few.
Picture 1: This picture shows 2 sides of a display case in the museum talking about growing and gathering food in Native American cultures on Long Island. Some examples of food and materials used to prepare the food are included. Credit: Southold Indian Museum.
Picture 2: This picture shows some of the seafood that Native Americans would have eaten on Long Island. Most of the items shown in this picture came from middens, or shellfish garbage pits. As the organisms were eaten the shells were just thrown onto the pile which stacked up for generations, and then was buried under sediment. Some animals that are eaten today are included in this example like oysters, scallops, clams, and lobster. But evidently the natives also ate things like welks, turtles, and sturgeon; most people today would not consider these items food. Credit: Southold Indian Museum.
Picture 3: In this picture the land animals that the Natives on Long Island ate are shown. These animals include deer, rabbit, turkey, bear, and beavers. These bones and teeth would also be tossed into the middens as garbage. The most striking item in this display however is the size of the lobster claw on the bottom; one that size could have taken off a limb if someone wasn’t too careful when handling it. Credit: Southold Indian Museum.
Southold Indian Museum Trip
Greenport and Native American Museum
by Mateo Rivera
It is speculated that the first native American people, going by the name of the Clovis, set foot in North America at the same time Mammoths were still on Earth. They arrived through the Bering land bridge that formed between modern day Alaska and Russia. The Clovis people used what is called an Atlatl to hunt very large megafauna like Wooly Mammoths. This is due to the fact that they could launch a spear at a football fields’ length. The wooden handle is used to launch the spear and a counterweight keeps the pole balanced allowing a longer throw. Picture copyright ©Southold Indian Museum
Native people had to be innovative in order to survive off of the land for so long. We have modern machinery to help us create certain tools like the ones shown above, but these tools were the first that were handcrafted from nature and by the natives. The comparison between modern day tools and those of the natives display how they paved the way for technology to evolve and still be a part of our daily lives today, just as they were many years ago. Picture copyright ©Southold Indian Museum
It is most likely that you would find native tribe to be located near moving bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. There had to be a way for the people to get around from place to place quickly and to go out to fish. The dugout canoe was created by taking a whole tree trunk and hollowing it out so that people could get in it. It worked so well because other materials weren’t necessarily needed to tie the boat together and support it. Above displays only a fragment of a dugout canoe and how it looked like back then. Picture copyright ©Southold Indian Museum
Southold Corn
by Tyler Rodriguez
On this week’s trip, we went to the Southold Indian Museum. One exhibit in particular caught my attention, and will be the subject of this blog post: corn. Corn is significant in the history of the world due to its versatility as a nutrient source. According to the museum, “before European contact, the Indians had developed the five major types of corn: flint, dent, flour, sweet, and popcorn.” The exhibit continues by saying that within 50 years of the European contact with the American continent in 1492, corn was in cultivation all across the world. In the five centuries since the European contact with the Americas, corn has become a global staple. This is not by accident, as corn can be used as a grain, a vegetable, and for flour. The image above shows various types of corn, as seen in the Southold Indian Museum.
In the display, it is interesting to see how each of the types of corn is different. Sweet corn and popcorn are the varieties I am most familiar with, and prior to seeing this exhibit I did not realize there was such a diversity of corn. This diversity does make sense due to the versatility of the grain. As the exhibit displays, modern corn was found as early as 2000 BC. I am particularly grateful for this development, as I am a huge fan of corn. I cannot help but wonder how the world’s history would have been different had corn not been developed by the Indians of the American continent.
Southold
When humans first entered the American continent, they did so by crossing a land bridge between Sibira and Alaska; and then proceeded to populate the rest of North and South America. Many tribes separated across the Americas, however, the Southold Indian Museum, really focuses on the collection of artifacts from the Indians that populated the northeast of North America, the Algonquin tribe.
Here is a typical medicine bag that the Algonquins’ Medicine Keeper would have with them at all times. Some items they would generally carry with them were herbs, eagle and hawk feathers, shells, stones, and even protective charms. The Medicine Keeper in native society could not only heal the sick but spiritually bring success during difficult hunting times, bring needed rain or even word off storms. I found it interesting that the purpose of the protective charms, was to not only protect the patient from death but to also protect the Medicine Keeper from becoming ill while tending to his patients.
Native American clothing was very unique and people are able to tell a lot about what they hunted based on their clothing. Natives did not waste any resources, after they would hunt and eat an animal they made sure every part of it was used for something; from the skins, furs, teeth and even their claws or talons. They would even use the bark of mulberry trees and turn that into a type of cloth for clothing, although they usually only turned to this when hunting was scarce.
Steatite pots, or soapstone pots, was the pottery used in the Archaic period; this was before ceramic pottery. These heavy pots were carved from soapstone, and the biggest source of soapstone back then was found in southern New England. This made people think that they either traveled or even traded for these pots. Because these pots were very valuable, many of them have signs that they were repaired, which makes sense since they were very fragile. As the Algonquin culture changed from the Archaic to the early woodland period the production of ceramic pottery began. The Algonquins learned use clay to form pots for various uses. Unlike the soapstone, the ceramic pottery could be made with designs. Pottery was mostly made by women and the styles changed depending on what region they were in. They used shells, stone, and even bone to make designs on the pots; most patterns on pots were made by woven rope that was pressed into the clay.
