Institute for Native American Studies

The Institute for Native American Studies in Washington, CT is a really good place to learn about the Northeast Indians. Do you know the song called Rock a Bye Baby in the Tree Top? Well, the Abanaki Indians hung their up-to-four month old babies in trees when the mother was working in the garden. When young boy Mohawks practice hunting they had rounded tip arrows that only stunned the small animals that they shot for practice. When men were hunting and making canoes, woman were gardening, cooking, taking care of children, weaving mats, and making clothes. So you can see that men didn't do everything!

Here is a graph showing the amounts of different types of foods that they ate:

This picture is showing the houses that Woodland Indians lived in. They are called wigwams. We got to go inside them. They were really cold and dark inside. They always kept a fire going inside during cold weather. They put bearskins on the door on really cold nights.
-- Sam Stevens (Trip Historian)


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At the Institute for Native American Studies you will learn a lot about the Woodland and Mohawk Indians. We saw a slide show of a Cherokee legend about when everything was dark and different animals went and tried to take a piece of the sun so they could have light.
-- Meredith Newman
The thing I liked about the museum is that they had a longhouse and wigwams. In the longhouse there was a huge painting of the Woodland Indians. The painting was covering a side of the longhouse so it looked like you were looking outside.
-- Jake Blasini
The thing that I really enjoyed about this museum was the wigwams. They were really realistic and if your interested in any project of Native Americans, it would be the perfect place for you to visit. They also have a wide variety of artifacts and paintings. I got a lot out of my visit! One thing that I particularly was fascinated by was how little meat they ate, they 15% fish, 5% meat and the rest vegetables!
-- Jonathan Lee
What I liked about the museum was that they didn't just tell you about things but they actually show you a lot of the stuff. For instance, outside they had wigwams that they let you go inside. They also showed us a telling story on a slide projector. It was a Cherokee myth about how the animals stole light from the other side of the earth that had it and brought it to their side.
-- Dan Shapiro
If you ever visit the Institute for Native American Studies, in Washington,CT, you'll see that in the village there is a garden. In the garden there is a loft-type platform that is used for scaring away crows and squirrels. The children would stand on it and make noises and scare the animals and birds away.
-- Ellie Julier

[Tanning a Hide] [Building A Longhouse] [Quinnipiac Indians] [Pequot Village] [Pequot War] [1492 - A Song]

Cold Spring School. Last update March 2001 coldspr@coldspringschool.com