| Hammonasset Human History
Only a few thousand years after the glacial ice left Connecticut, Native Americans began to follow the newly arriving vegetation and animals into the area. These early hunters would have found wooly mammoths and mastodons, giant beaver, and various other animals that were adapted to the cold climate that still chilled the air. Some of the early settlers became fisherman and gatherers of shellfish. Later, as the climate warmed farming began. By the time European settlers arrived in the mid to late 1600's, the area around today's park was farmed by the Hammonasset Indians, whose name means "where we dig the ground". Their main crops were probably beans, corn and squash, plus they also collected shellfish and probably fished in the Sound and rivers. The Hammonasset Indians later turned over the area around Hammonasset to the Mohegans as part of a marriage dowry. The Mohegan Sachem Uncas sold the park area to George Fenwick in 1639, who later gave or traded this land to the Guilford colony for use as farmland. The colonists mainly used the area to gather seaweed and to cut salt-marsh hay for feed and bedding for horses and cattle. Fishing and shell fishing later became more common along the shore. At one time fish oil sheds were built on Hammonasset Beach to boil down fish into oil for paint and linseed oil. Otherwise the land was sparsely used until 1828. At that time a farm was established and a farmhouse built on the site of the present Meigs Point Nature Center. An orchard was planted on Willard Island and corn, potatoes, oats and hay were grown on other higher areas. In 1913, the State of Connecticut set aside money to buy land for parks and established the Parks and Forest Commission. A special need for shoreline parks was seen, as access to the shore was becoming increasingly difficult for those who did not own shoreline property. Part of the land that now makes up Hammonasset Beach State Park was purchased in 1919 from Clarkson Meigs and others, a total of 565 acres, which now comprise the western end of the park. The Commission built a Grand Pavilion and boardwalk. 1921 saw the construction of the clam shed, consisting of a kitchen and large indoor area for tables and chairs. These were both temporary structures, designed to last only five to ten years when more money would hopefully be available. However, the Grand Pavilion remained until torn down in 1967, enduring two major hurricanes and various repairs. The park officially opened on July 18, 1920 as Connecticut's 19th state park. The eastern end of the current park was owned by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, which had been using the property as a testing range since 1898, especially before and during World War I. The state asked the arms company to give first right of purchase of the land to the state. When Winchester decided to sell the land in 1923, after being approached by a hotel and resort developer, they contacted the state. Unfortunately, the state did not have the money available at the time. Luckily, a member of the Parks and Forest Commission, Mr. J. Harris Wittemore, stepped forward and purchased the land with his own money, leasing it to the state for five percent of the purchase price plus taxes. Two years later the state bought the land for $63,000. During World War II, the park was leased to the War Department and closed to the public. P-47 warplanes used targets set up along Meigs Point Road for target practice, being careful to shoot toward the Sound rather than toward the shore. One plane crashed during practice and remains in the Sound today. After the war, the park returned to public use, although some repairs were needed first. The War Department provided some repair funds; the state came up with the rest. In 1963, a man using a metal detector to search the beach for coins turned up a World War I mortar round. The park was closed for a time while the beach was searched for more old munitions, but none were found. Hammonasset Park Home ... Geological History ... Plants and Animals of Hammonasset ... Recreation ... Further Reading ... |