Indigenous people and Remington Woods

 

                          

By Reginald Johnson

 

   

  BRIDGEPORT, CT --- The Remington Woods open space tract --- zoned by the city for commercial and residential development --- may have been an area where indigenous people lived thousands of years ago.

  In the late 1990s, when development ideas for the woods were first discussed, then Connecticut State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni did an assessment survey of the area. Bellantoni recommended that the 423-acre forest be preserved due to “archaeological sensitivity” and called for a full exploration and inventory of findings.

   That full exploration was never done and Bellantoni, now retired, could not be reached for extensive comment on his research. But local resident Jeff Kohut, who was in touch with Bellantoni at the time, said that the state official based his recommendation in good part on the discovery decades earlier of artifacts from a Native-American camp on land right next to Remington Woods.

  That land is where the Nob Hill Condominiums, on Nob Hill Circle in the northeast section of Bridgeport, now sit. Kohut said that ancient Indian artifacts were discovered during the construction of the condos just after World War II. The artifacts, dating to 7,000 years ago, indicated the presence of a camp and tool making site and “prolonged habitation.”

  “Unfortunately, the artifacts were discovered only after major disruption of the site/building had occurred, so a full assessment/reconstruction of the habitation by Native Americans was impossible,” said Kohut.

 Kohut said Bellantoni had also located 7,000-year old habitation sites in the Pequonnock River Valley in Trumbull, about 1 mile from Remington Woods. The Pequonnock River Valley is close to Church Hill Road and Daniels Farm Road.

  Kohut also noted that he had discovered ancient artifacts, including an arrowhead and ax head, on property in the Lake Forest area of Bridgeport, also about 1 mile from Remington Woods. The artifacts were authenticated by Bellantoni and also dated from 7,000 years ago.

  The current state archaeologist, Sarah Sportman, said that prior to the creation of a lake on the Remington property (Lake Success),  “there were streams and wetlands which likely made the area attractive to indigenous people.”

        

The lake at Remington Woods. Ancient indigenous artifacts were found nearby. 

  Currently, the property is owned by the Sporting Goods company, a subsidiary of Corteva Corporation, previously part of DuPont. The tract --- of which 347 acres are in Bridgeport and 76 acres in Stratford --- was once used by the Remington Arms company to test guns and ammunition. In recent years, there has been an EPA-monitored hazardous waste clean-up of the area.

  Sporting Goods officials are now mulling options for development of the site, following the city’s approval of a zoning designation of “Residential-Office” late last year.

  That approval came after dozens of people spoke out at a public hearing supporting the idea of preserving the woods as open space and as a wildlife refuge. Some speakers also raised the archaeological questions associated with the site and wondered why development would be allowed to go ahead with those questions unanswered. 

      

Artifacts dating to 7,000 years ago, found in the Lake Forest area, about a mile from Remington Woods.

  According to multiple histories of the southern Connecticut area, indigenous people, primarily the Paugussett tribe, inhabited the region for centuries if not millenia prior to the arrival of European settlers.

  “The Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe has been a part of Greater Bridgeport’s history from time immemorial,” said Charles Brilvitch, an historian and author of the book “A History of Connecticut’s Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe.”

  Brilvitch said the Paugussetts lived in a number of areas of what is now Bridgeport, Trumbull, Stratford and Fairfield. There were Paugussett villages in the area of Golden Hill Street and Elm Street in downtown Bridgeport; on land where Mountain Grove cemetery sits near the mouth of Ash Creek; and at the head of Johnson’s Creek near the Bridgeport-Stratford line, among other locations, he said.

      

Downtown Bridgeport, not far from City Hall. Centuries ago, the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe had a village on this land. 

  After Dutch and English immigrants arrived in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the Paugussetts were systematically driven off their land, either violently by settlers or by government decree. 

  Today, a small Paugussett tribe remains, with a quarter-acre reservation in Trumbull.

  A Paugussett leader said the tribe is in the beginning stages of finding out what’s going on at Remington Woods and what the Sporting Goods company has in mind.

  “We are planning on having a meeting with them so that our council and us can go to the land. We can talk, we can meet, we can see, get our questions out and see what they have to say before we can comment on anything,” said Shoran, the Clan Mother and Tribal Head Leader of the Golden Hill Paugussetts.

 

 

Battle rages to save Remington Woods

 

 By Reginald Johnson 

 

     BRIDGEPORT ---- Zoning officials will likely decide the fate of Remington Woods next week following a hearing where dozens of people spoke passionately in favor preserving the more than 400-acre tract along the Stratford border.

 The Planning and Zoning commission has scheduled a meeting for Monday, November 29 at 6:30 pm to continue discussion on and likely vote on the proposed new city zoning regulations, which include a rezoning of the Remington Woods tract from industrial to commercial.

  If approved, that change is likely to pave the way for a subsidiary of the DuPont Corporation to develop the woods for corporate offices. DuPont is the owner of the property, which has sat untouched for decades after the Remington Arms company used the woods for munitions testing.

 Preservationists from Bridgeport and other communities attended a zoning hearing on the new regulations on November 16 and 17 to adamantly oppose the zone change for the woods and demand that the area be kept as a natural wildlife preserve. The speakers said preserving the mature hardwood forest is vital in the battle to combat climate change and reduce the effects of air pollution which triggers health problems such as asthma.

   “The woods are home to endangered box turtles, a family of bald eagles, fox, deer, over 70 species of birds and thousands and thousands of trees,’’ said Beth Lazar of Bridgeport.

  The Remington Woods area, Lazar said, “should be zoned in its entirety as a nature preserve and not as a park as they are two different things. Parks have roads, picnic areas and spaces for events. Remington Woods should be a protected living community for plants and animals.”

  A member of the group Preserve Remington Woods, Lazar noted that 17% of the office space in Bridgeport is now vacant and there are many vacant lots. “Why doesn’t Bridgeport rehab the spaces for commercial use rather than knocking down the forest?”

   Lazar said over 1000 people have signed a petition asking that the Remington ship Woods forest be preserved.

   She told the commissioners “in this age of climate change crisis, high pollution and asthma rates in Bridgeport, it is unconscionable to knock down the forest.”

  Some top elected officials have swung their support behind efforts to save Remington Woods. Councilwoman Maria Pereira, who represents the area where the Remington forest is located, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D – Connecticut, has sent a letter to both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, requesting that Remington Woods be protected as a nature and wildlife preserve.

The lake at Remington Woods

  But the city’s proposed plan appears to strike a compromise between those who want to preserve the woods completely and the corporate owners who are seeking development. The zoning plan calls for changing the area from light industrial to residential-office center.

   City Planner Lynn Haig, from the Office of Planning and Economic Development, said the Sporting Goods company, DuPont’s subsidiary which is now remediating the site, has said it prefers to maintain some form of light industrial zoning because “it is the most permissive current code we currently have.”

  According to the Connecticut Post, Haig told the commission that the current zoning classification “allows intense development without any conservation. We have proposed a clean mixed-use zone that requires the owner to submit a master plan to the planning and zoning commission for its review and approval.”

  Haig said that any such plan would have to include open space.

According to the Post, Haig said “The city cannot take the further step some would advocate and just zone the property as parks and open space.”

  She said that not only would that remove the economic potential from the Remington site, but such a classification might be legally challenged as a form of “reverse condemnation.”

   But several speakers, including some from out of town, expressed astonishment that Bridgeport was on the verge of allowing such a beautiful and extensive forest area, which includes a lake, to be developed.

  Stanley Heller of Danbury, from the organization Promoting Enduring Peace, said it was vital to preserve mature trees in the battle against global warming. “Preservation of mature woods like the one in Bridgeport is essential. It would be an outrage to destroy the thousands of trees there to develop some office park or cemetery or dump.”

  He added, “With what we know about the growing perils of the world climate the destruction of Remington Woods could be considered a possible international crime. Preserve the woods intact. All of it.”

 Scott Ward of West Haven said it was his understanding that the Remington Woods site contains some archaeological significance. “That alone should stop everything,” he said.

  Ward said that when all factors are taken together --- the fight against climate change, improving air quality, preserving a beautiful forest and wildlife, together with the possible archaeological considerations, it’s clear that the Remington Woods forest should be completely preserved.

  “It’s almost embarrassing your town is in this situation,” he commented.

A road into Remington Woods

   Speakers said Bridgeport officials should take heed of what came out of the recently concluded COP 26 conference on global warming in Scotland. World leaders there pledged to end deforestation --- a process which leads to carbon build-up and rising temperatures.

  Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim attended that conference and was quoted in the Connecticut Post as justifying his overseas trip because municipal leaders, he said, have a “role to play” in setting policies relating to climate change.

  But Callie Heillman, of Bridgeport Generation Now, took Ganim to task. “While the mayor is correct that there is a role that we all play, the reason why there is such a groundswell of people testifying on this issue tonight and submitted comments is there is a complete lack of commitment from the administration to fully preserve the woods.”

  She added,  “To say we will work with the property owners to develop a plan which will include open space is not the same as a commitment to working with organizations here on the ground… to come up with a plan that would acquire and protect the woods.”

  Pereira criticized the zoning commission for failing to make sure that all the phone lines were working for the hearing which was done by Zoom. She said that some of her constituents were not able to get through on the toll-free numbers.

  “This is a violation of public hearing access laws under the Freedom of Information act. This meeting is illegal,” she said.

   Commissioners said later that they had addressed the problem of the phone lines.

 Pereira also spoke in favor of preserving Remington Woods and described how the construction and remediation work that has gone on so far has exacerbated flooding in the upper East Main Street area in the district that she represents.

  Spokesmen for the Sierra Club and the Greater Bridgeport NAACP also lent their support to the preservation effort.

 A spokeswoman for the Sierra Club testified that “Bridgeport has some of the dirtiest air in the country and high rates of health disparities that make Bridgeport residents highly susceptible to health crises like Covid 19 and we know that in situations like this frontline communities suffer the most,”

  She added “although development of the woods is being touted as an economic gain for the area the communities will ultimately gain no benefit and potentially will have to pay the cost for over development.”