Cutchogue - a Dive Into History

After the story about the beaches, I knew there was a part of me that still needed to be sated.

Truth is that I am a very curious person and my first time in Cutchogue was NOT driven by the search for a nice beach. That was mere chance.

In fact, what I was looking for were some rests of an old ruin, namely that of Fort Corchaug, which was a gathering place for the Corchaug, one of the Algonquian tribes who lived on Long Island before the English settlers put their roots on the East End in the mid 17th century and who were decimated by either weapons or diseases.

Although not an expert, I am interested in American Indian history, which was sadly a succession of genocide in the past and is - up to now - a difficult struggle to keep alive minorities with traditions and rules, without creating a bunch of individuals isolated from a society that does not take such rules and traditions into consideration.

Anyway, if you are interested in knowing more about the Fort, I suggest you read this article about its history and the cross-cultural history of Cutchogue and Long Island in general.

In Southold you will also find a little museum dedicated to the Algonquian Indians.

A must read about the Algonquian people on Long Island today is the book "We are still alive" by John A. Strong.


to be continued...