Hammonasset State park Beach
Hammonasset Beach is located on Route 1 in Madison, Connecticut just south of I-95 Exit 62. The park offers camping, hiking, swimming, fishing and bird watching. Hammonasset is open year round and charges for parking during the summer season but generally only on nice weekends in the spring and fall.
The State owned beach which stretches out for a good two miles along the Long Island Sound coast consists of 919 acres of salt marsh, field and beach.
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The History and Story Behind Hammonasset Beach
Man first appeared in this area in the Late Pliocene, or Ice Age, which was about 10,500 B.C. They were primarily hunters of the large prehistoric mammals, which they hunted with crude spears and clubs. Gradually, they assumed a more settled way of life, and by the time that white men first arrived in this area in the early 1600's they were good agriculturalists, as well as hunters.
Five tribes of Indians inhabited the area near and around Hammonasset. The Quinnnipiacs lived in the New Haven area, the Menunkatucks in the Guilford area, the Hammonassets in the Madison/Clinton area and the Pequots and Mohegans in the Old Saybrook/New London area.
The Hammonassets were typical eastern woodland Indians. They were mostly farmers, subsisting mainly on corn, beans, and squash, but they also fished and hunted. The Indian word "Hammonasset" means, "where we dig holes in the ground", and refers to the place where they farmed along the Hammonasset River.
The Hammonassets spent their summer farming along the Hammonasset River, just north of the present park area. As far as it is known they did not have a permanent village in the park area, though they probably hunted and fished in the area. During the winter they moved to the protectively wooded area that is now near the present Durham-Killingworth town line.
The sachem, or leader, of the Hammonassets was Sebaguenosh, which means "man who weeps". He had several reasons for being the man who weeps. His beloved and beautiful daughter married Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, who was also a traitor to his red brothers. In the same marriage Sebeguencsh lost the control of his lands to Uncas, who turned around and sold it to the whites.
And this Tribe gave his name to the Connecticut finest Beach: Hammonasset Beach.
Additional Information
In this important to state that Hammonasset Beach has dunes all along the shoreline about 3 miles long, giving to his aspect the characteristic of an equilibrium beach with no abrupt slope change and with the ability to migrate.
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