{"id":66,"date":"2025-12-15T05:16:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/?page_id=66"},"modified":"2026-04-09T19:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:05:25","slug":"land","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/land\/","title":{"rendered":"Belonging to the Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/strong>s Mike Thomas dri\u00adves through the Mashan\u00adtuck\u00adet Pequot reser\u00adva\u00adtion on a fall after\u00adnoon in Octo\u00adber 2025, he stops at an open\u00ading in the woods that leads to a path. This is Matt\u2019s Path \u2013 home to Coun\u00adcil Rock, Bal\u00adanc\u00ading Rock, the Sweat Lodge and the Home\u00adstead House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery\u00adthing for us, all of our cer\u00ade\u00admonies, our lan\u00adguage, our entire view of exis\u00adtence is rela\u00adtion\u00adship-based first, earth-based sec\u00adon\u00addar\u00adi\u00adly and place-based,\u201d said Thomas, who works at the Cul\u00adtur\u00adal Resources Depart\u00adment of the Mashan\u00adtuck\u00adet Pequot Tribe and serves on the Board of Direc\u00adtors for the Mashan\u00adtuck\u00adet Pequot Muse\u00adum and Research Cen\u00adter<\/a>. \u201cIt is spe\u00adcif\u00adic places on the Earth that we belong to, rather than the oppo\u00adsite way around. For us, the con\u00adnec\u00adtions to the land and the water are every\u00adthing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accord\u00ading to Thomas, Native peo\u00adple belong to the land rather than own\u00ading the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, after the 1638 Treaty of Hart\u00adford, the Pequots lost their land and the name Pequot was banned, mak\u00ading it essen\u00adtial\u00adly ille\u00adgal to be Pequot. Over time, tribes across the nation lost  99%<\/a> of their land due to col\u00ado\u00adniza\u00adtion and era\u00adsure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Con\u00adnecti\u00adcut Mashan\u00adtuck\u00adet Pequot Trib\u00adal Nation has been work\u00ading for the past cen\u00adtu\u00adry to reclaim and pre\u00adserve the land that they do have through advo\u00adca\u00adcy, pri\u00adva\u00adcy and edu\u00adca\u00adtion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click on images to view larg\u00ader.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Homestead<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
According to Mashantucket Pequot history the tribe \u201cstruggled to maintain and regain their land\u201d throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. By 1865, only 214 acres of reservation land remained, and by the mid-1970s only two sisters, Elizabeth George Plouffe and Martha \u201cMatt\u201d Langevin Ellal, were residents on the reservation.<\/p>\n

After the two sisters died, around 50 tribal members from around the United States returned to the reservation. In 1974, a tribal constitution based on a draft that Elizabeth George, Amos George and members of the Tribal Council had created in the 1960s, was enacted. Soon after, a tribal chairman was elected, and the tribe began encouraging Mashantucket Pequots to return to the reservation. They aimed to \u201crestore the Tribe\u2019s culture and traditions, and to address housing needs, sustainable economic development and self-sufficiency on the reservation,\u201d according to the Mashantucket Pequot historical website. Eventually, their success led to the tribe\u2019s federal recognition in 1983 and later, the economic development of Foxwoods Resort Casino and cultural development of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center.<\/p>\n

The house in the photo is a replica of Elizabeth George Plouffe\u2019s house, which was rebuilt in 2024. A replica of Ellal\u2019s house is across the way. This area of the reservation is known as the Homestead.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of their houses are preserved here, because they fought for this land and none of us would be here without them, \u201cThomas said. \u201cMatt\u2019s Path is named after Aunt Matt [Ellal].\u201d <\/p>\n\" data-image-caption=\"

According to Mashantucket Pequot history the tribe \u201cstruggled to maintain and regain their land\u201d throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. By 1865, only 214 acres of reservation land remained, and by the mid-1970s only two sisters, Elizabeth George Plouffe and Martha \u201cMatt\u201d Langevin Ellal, were residents on the reservation.<\/p>\n

After the two sisters died, around 50 tribal members from around the United States returned to the reservation. In 1974, a tribal constitution based on a draft that Elizabeth George, Amos George and members of the Tribal Council had created in the 1960s, was enacted. Soon after, a tribal chairman was elected, and the tribe began encouraging Mashantucket Pequots to return to the reservation. They aimed to \u201crestore the Tribe\u2019s culture and traditions, and to address housing needs, sustainable economic development and self-sufficiency on the reservation,\u201d according to the Mashantucket Pequot historical website. Eventually, their success led to the tribe\u2019s federal recognition in 1983 and later, the economic development of Foxwoods Resort Casino and cultural development of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center.<\/p>\n

The house in the photo is a replica of Elizabeth George Plouffe\u2019s house, which was rebuilt in 2024. A replica of Ellal\u2019s house is across the way. This area of the reservation is known as the Homestead.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of their houses are preserved here, because they fought for this land and none of us would be here without them, \u201cThomas said. \u201cMatt\u2019s Path is named after Aunt Matt [Ellal].\u201d <\/p>\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-1024x683.jpg\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"http:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-1024x683.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/indigenous-culture-preservation\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_9149-1860x1240.jpg 1860w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">