Meet the People of the Berkshires

Indigenous peoples lived on the Housatonic River for more than 10,000 years. Artifacts and burial sites of the Mohicans—or Muh-he-con-ne-ok, “People of the Waters That are Never Still”—have been found throughout the Housatonic River Valley. The Mohicans were known as River Indians and traditionally lived close to rivers and streams, using them for both sustenance and transportation. 

In the early 18^th century, English colonists began to trickle into the Berkshire Mountains. One of the earliest settlers was the English missionary John Sargeant, who established a mission at present-day Stockbridge where he converted Native Americans to Christianity. During the Revolutionary War, men from the Mohican and closely affiliated tribes formed the Stockbridge Militia, the first Native American group to fight on the American side. Despite their loyalty, the tribesmen returned from war to find they had been dispossessed of their lands through debt and fraud. 

With their families, they soon moved to upstate New York and eventually settled in Wisconsin, where they became known as the Stockbridge Munsee. In recent years, the Stockbridge Munsee have reestablished relations with the town and people of Berkshire County, and they are now working together to recover and preserve the Mohican heritage of the Housatonic River Valley. 

The English colonists who settled on the banks of the Housatonic were largely subsistence farmers relocating from Cape Cod and Connecticut. The town of Lee was founded in 1760 by Isaac Davis, a farmer, who built the first frame house in the town. Within 10 years, a grist mill and a paper mill had been erected in Lee thanks to its favorable location on the Housatonic River. 

The region’s dense forests and impenetrable terrain kept the Housatonic Valley a sparsely settled backwater until after the Revolutionary War. In the early 19^th century, the country’s rapid industrialization caused the area’s population and economy to diversify quickly. The Town of Lee welcomed many Irish immigrants to work in its marble quarries and paper and textile mills, followed by Italian and other European immigrants who supplied valuable labor to the town’s economy. 

After the  railroad arrived in the 1840s, the Housatonic River Valley developed into a summer playground for wealthy Bostonians and New Yorkers. Fabled families such as the Morgans, Vanderbilts, and Choates constructed enormous mansions (ironically known as “cottages”) around the region. These houses were visited by literary luminaries including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Henry James. The homes were staffed and maintained by residents of Lee and other working class towns.

African Americans have lived in Housatonic River Valley since the 18^th century, when  some English families settling in the region came accompanied by enslaved Blacks. The institution of slavery largely died out in Massachusetts by the beginning of the 19^th century. A small community of African Americans remained in area and, among others, produced W.E.B. Dubois, one of the United States’ leading civil rights advocates.