NIPMUC

In the state of Massachusetts, the low coastal plains rise up to an inland plateau. The plateau is separated from even higher country to the west, the Berkshire Hills, by the Connecticut River. This plateau, covered with rich topsoil and dense woods and coursed by swift-flowing rivers, was the heart of the ancestral homeland of Algonquian bands, who came to be known together as the Nipmuc. Their territory, called

Nipnet, extended as far north as the present-day Vermont and New Hampshire borders and south into northwestern Rhode Island and northeastern Connecticut (see NORTHEAST INDIANS).

The name Nipmuc or Nipmuck, pronounced NIP-muck, is derived from the Algonquian word nipmaug, for “freshwater people.” The fact that the Nipmuc primarily used inland freshwater lakes and rivers for their fishing rather than the Atlantic Ocean marks their major difference from many other New England ALGON-QUIANS living closer to the coast. In other ways—such as their hunting and farming methods, their tools, and their beliefs—they were much like other Algonquians. The Nipmuc were noted in particular for their basketmaking, weaving, and leatherwork.

Historically too, their story linked to other area tribes. The Nipmuc were associated in early colonial years with the MASSACHUSET tribe to the east, and many of them also became Praying Indians, as Christianized Indians were known. But then in 1675, many Nipmuc men joined the WAMPANOAG and NARRA-GANSETT in King Philip’s War. At the end of the war the next year, some Nipmuc survivors settled among Algonquian kinspeople, such as the MAHICAN on the Hudson River. Others joined Algonquians in Canada.

The Nipmuc Tribe is recognized by the state of Massachusetts with three active groups—the Has-sanamisco Band in Grafton, the Chaubunagungamaug Band in Webster and Dudley, and the Nipmuc Nation of Sutton. The Nipmuc celebrate their heritage through annual powwows and educational and cultural programs. Other Nipmuc live in Connecticut. The Nipmuc groups are striving toward federal recognition, which would give them access to special programs provided by the government to help with social and health expenses and to better protect their lands. Moreover, with federal recognition along with a state compact, a tribe can own and operate a casino as a means of income.