Yellow Bird: Seeing history through modern eyes

"The Mohegan tribe of Uncasville, Conn., bought a historic site called Cochegan Rock on July 3, according to news reports. The rock is part of a preservation effort by this tribe. This effort, however, involves more than just acquiring land; it also is remembering the oral history of the Mohegan people.

Yet, retelling that history today can be dicey because we sometimes see history through 21st-century eyes.

Cochegan Rock is important because it marks the place where Uncas, one of the well-known Mohegan leaders, held council meetings and perhaps met to negotiate with the colonists and other tribes.

This historic site was transferred to the Mohegan when the tribe handed the Connecticut Rivers Council of Boy Scouts a check for $200,000 and the rights to use the site whenever it wanted. The huge rock is 75 feet long, 58 feet wide and 68 feet high and has a volume of about 70,000 cubic feet. Its probable weight is 6,000 tons and is said to be the largest freestanding boulder in New England."

Get the Story:
Modern eyes can distort history (The Grand Forks Herald 7/14)
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