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I'm vacationing to the Boston area for a week and am interested in Native American history and culture. There's plenty of historic colonial landmarks and museums, but I can't seem to find the equivalent for tribes. (Where) do they exist?

I'm not looking for a specific tribe. I'll have a car, so anywhere from Connecticut to Maine would be possible.

From what I know about history, New England was settled before reservations were set up, and most natives died of disease or were assimilated into European culture. This leads me to believe that tribes don't have much presence, anymore.

Addendum: I'm from California, so I'm familiar with Indian casinos, but a quick search of Indian museums in California shows some around all the major metro areas. I can also find websites of tribes in California that advertise public cultural events. I expected to find similar things in New England. My motivation for asking is primarily for professional development: the content standards for 5th grade social studies includes pre-colonial American history, and this may be my only opportunity to visit this area.

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  • Are you planning a pilgrimage? If so please add the 'pilgrimages' tag so the question can be properly indexed.
    – Gayot Fow
    Jun 17, 2016 at 21:11

3 Answers 3

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The present-day Indians of New England may be best known for their casinos. There are three large ones in Connecticut. (An Act of Congress allows recognized Indian tribes to run gambling games that are not lawful in general; the details, are complicated.) Google shows several Indian museums and a few historical sites in New England, at least one of which is surely subsidized by the casino run by the same tribe, so at least there is some good from all the gambling.

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  • DiscoverNewEngland.Org contained the list that I was looking for. I was searching Google Maps for "Indian museum", and it kept centering on D.C. Searching for "Indian history" gave me more local results.
    – Spencer Joplin
    Jun 18, 2016 at 3:35
  • Hey late down voter, care to explain?
    – Andrew Lazarus
    Aug 31, 2016 at 2:57
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One thing coming to mind is a famous attraction near Plymouth, MA, called Plimoth Plantation. One part of the live exhibit is an Indian village reconstructed supposedly as it was when the first "pilgrims" arrived. The village is actively maintained by Indians, who can be engaged in conversation regarding cultural, social and day-to-day life.

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  • Thanks. I visited Plimoth Plantation in July 2016 and recommend visiting. However, the limitation of the live exhibits is that they depict a single point in history. Also, children can play games with the actors.
    – Spencer Joplin
    Jul 19, 2017 at 3:43
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I'm late to the party (and probably too late for the OP), but I can recommend the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Mashantucket, CT (in the southeastern part of the state.) The museum is relatively large (allow 2–3 hours to see it all). It has exhibits explaining the way of life and history of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe; the centerpiece is a large walk-through diorama that recreates a Pequot village in the mid 16th-century.

(I'm not affiliated with this museum in any way; it's just a local landmark that I think deserves greater recognition.)

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  • Thanks. I found out about and visited the Pequot museum in 2016, and I recommend budgeting a minimum of 3 hours there. The exhibits are meticulous and plentiful.
    – Spencer Joplin
    Jul 19, 2017 at 3:44

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