You are here
Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2005
- Title: Early Historical Records of the Northeast Coast
- Primary Author: John Burk (Harvard Forest)
- Additional Authors: David Foster (Harvard University); Glenn Motzkin (University of Massachusetts - Amherst )
- Abstract:
The landscape of coastal New England and New York has been highly dynamic over time in response to changing environmental conditions and varied histories of natural and anthropogenic disturbance. However, fundamental questions remain unresolved regarding the composition, structure, and pattern of vegetation prior to and at the time of European settlement in the 17th century, and the extent to which Native American activities influenced the coastal landscape. Such questions have direct application to interpretations of modern community patterns and conservation efforts aimed at protecting numerous rare species. We are conducting integrated paleoecological, archaeological, and historical investigations to document landscape change over time and to evaluate the influence of human and natural disturbances.
We have begun a comprehensive search of primary historical sources containing early landscape descriptions of the coastal region that extends from Massachusetts to Long Island, including references to forests, clearings, fire, native settlements and agricultural activities, as well as information on severe storms and wildlife. A detailed database and bibliography of all citations is being maintained.
A considerable amount of material has been found for the Massachusetts coast, including the explorer accounts of Martin Pring, Bartholomew Gosnold, and John Smith from 1603 to 1614. These include descriptions of the vegetation of Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. Several sources from Plymouth Plantation provided a great deal of information about Cape Cod and the Massachusetts coastline during the 1620s and 1630s, most notably William Wood’s New England’s Prospect, Francis Higginson’s New England’s Plantation, and the anonymously written Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. While these records have not yet been analyzed in detail, there are numerous references to permanent to semi-permanent Indian settlements and agricultural activity along favorable locations (i.e. rivers and bays), and frequent descriptions of large blocks of forest and wilderness (i.e. Provincetown as “wooded to the brink of the seas” in Mourt’s Relation) away from these areas.
Initial searches of records for Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island have also yield useful information. Giovanni da Verrazano’s 1524 account describes the forests of the Rhode Island coast, and also refers to widespread Indian fires along the shore. The Connecticut colonial records include descriptions of plains, meadows, and planting grounds along the eastern Connecticut coast, and Dutch explorer Adriaen Block refers to a small native population at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1614. The New York records include landscape descriptions by Issac Jouges (1644) and Daniel Denton (1670) which mention 17th-century forests and areas cleared by Indians.
- Research Category:
