Editing Mystic, Connecticut (section)

==History==
{{main|Pequot War|Mystic massacre}}

[[File:View of Mystic River & Mystic Bridge, Conn. 1879. LOC 74693238.jpg|thumb|[Mystic River and Mystic Bridge, Connecticut (1879)]]
Before the 17th century, the [[Pequot people]] lived in this portion of southeastern Connecticut.<ref>For many years, historians believed that they migrated in the 16th century from eastern New York. Newer archaeological evidence shows the presence of a people who lived in an area called Gungywump, somewhat northwest of the Mystic River, which suggests that the Pequots may have been indigenous to southeastern Connecticut prior to the 16th century. (Leigh Fought, 2007. ''A History of Mystic, Connecticut: From Pequot Village to Tourist Town'' p. 13).</ref> They were in control of a considerable amount of territory, extending toward the [[Pawcatuck River]] to the east and the [[Connecticut River]] to the west.

To the northwest, the Five Nations of the [[Iroquois]] dominated the land linked by the [[Great Lakes]] and the [[Hudson River]], allowing trading to occur between the Iroquois and the Dutch.  The Pequots were settled just distant enough to be secure from any danger that the Iroquois posed.<ref name="Fought, Leigh 2007">Leigh Fought, ''A History of Mystic Connecticut: From Pequot Village to Tourist Town''. Charleston, North Carolina: www.historypress.net, 2007.</ref> The [[Pequot War]] profoundly affected the Mystic area between 1636 and 1638. In May 1637, captains John Underhill and John Mason led a mission through Narragansett land, along with their allies the Narragansetts and Mohegans, and struck the Pequot Indian settlement in Mystic in the event which came to be known as the [[Mystic massacre]].<ref name="accessed October 12, 2008">The Pequot War. {{cite web |url=http://www.dowdgen.com/dowd/document/pequots.html |title=The Pequot War |access-date=April 2, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315215644/http://www.dowdgen.com/dowd/document/pequots.html |archive-date=March 15, 2007 }} (accessed October 12, 2008).</ref> On September 21, 1638, the colonists signed the [[Treaty of Hartford (1638)|Treaty of Hartford]], officially ending the Pequot War.<ref name="accessed November 11, 2008">[http://www.colonialwarsct.org/1637.htm "1637 – The Pequot War"] (2007). The Society of Colonial War in the State of Connecticut.  Accessed November 11, 2008.</ref>

===English settlement===
Pequot control of the Mystic area ended after the Pequot War, and English settlements increased. By the 1640s, [[Connecticut Colony]] began to grant land to the Pequot War veterans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shepard |first=James |date=1913 |title=Connecticut Soldiers in the Pequot War of 1637 |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=etas |location=Meriden, Conn. |publisher=The Journal Publishing Co.}}</ref> [[John Winthrop the Younger]] was among those to receive property, much of which was in southeastern Connecticut.<ref>{{cite web | title=John Winthrop, Jr. | website=Museum of Connecticut History | date=April 1999 | url=https://museumofcthistory.org/2015/08/john-winthrop-jr/ | access-date=April 17, 2020}}</ref> Other early settlers in the Mystic area included Robert Burrows and George Denison, who held land in the Mystic River Valley.<ref name="American Journey 2004">''Mystic: An American Journey''. Mystic: Mystic River Historical Society, 2004.</ref>

Settlement grew slowly. The Connecticut government and Massachusetts Bay government began to quarrel over boundaries, thus causing some conflicting claims concerning governmental authority between the Mystic River and the [[Pawcatuck River]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bowen |first=Clarence Winthrop |date=1882 |title=The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut |url=https://archive.org/details/boundarydisputes00bowe_0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/boundarydisputes00bowe_0/page/32 32] |location=Boston |publisher=James R. Osgood and Company}}</ref> In the 1640s and 1650s, "Connecticut" referred to settlements located along the Connecticut River, as well as its claims in other parts of the region.<ref name="Society, Mystic River Historical 2004">Mystic River Historical Society. ''Images of America: Mystic''. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.</ref>  Massachusetts Bay, however, claimed to have authority over [[Stonington, Connecticut|Stonington]] and even into [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]].

Connecticut did not have a royal charter that separated it from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; the Connecticut General Court was formed by leaders of the settlements. The General Court claimed rule of the area by right of conquest, but the Massachusetts Bay Colony saw matters differently. The Bay Colony had contributed to the war by sending a militia under captains John Underhill and Thomas Stoughton, which they argued gave territorial rights and authority to the Massachusetts Bay Colony rather than the Connecticut Court.<ref name="Society, Mystic River Historical 2004"/>

Both colonies turned to the [[New England Confederation|United Colonies of New England]] to resolve the dispute. The United Colonies of New England was formed in 1643, established to settle disputes such as this one. They voted to establish the boundary between the claims of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut at the [[Thames River (Connecticut)|Thames River]]. As a result, Connecticut would be positioned west of the river, and Massachusetts Bay could have the land to the east, including the Mystic River.<ref name="Fought, Leigh 2007"/>

[[File:Coogan Farm (Stone Walls and Pavilion), Mystic, CT.jpg|thumb|right|Coogan Farm at the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, a historic farm property in the area of Mystic where John Gallup, John Mason, and George Denison settled<ref>{{cite web |title=Coogan Farm |url=https://dpnc.org/coogan-farm/ |website=Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center |date=April 22, 2014 |access-date=November 10, 2020}}</ref>]]
Throughout the next decade, colonists were beginning to settle around the Mystic River. John Mason was one of the captains who led the colonists against the Pequots, and he had been granted {{convert|500|acre|km2|0}} on the eastern banks of the Mystic River.<ref name="accessed November 13, 2008">Mystic River Historical Society. http://mystichistory.org/about_mrhs.htm (accessed November 13, 2008).</ref>  He also received the island that now bears his name, though he never lived on the property. In 1653, John Gallup, Jr. was given {{convert|300|acre|km2}} approximately midway up the east part of the Mystic River.

Within the same year, others joined John Gallup and began to settle around the Mystic River. George Denison, a veteran of [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s army, was given his own strip of {{convert|300|acre|km2}} just south of Gallup's land in 1654.  Thomas Miner had immigrated to Massachusetts with John Winthrop and was granted many land plots, the main one lying on Quiambaug Cove, just east of the Mystic River.<ref name="accessed November 13, 2008"/>  Other families granted land were Reverend Robert Blinman, the Beebe brothers, Thomas Parke, and Connecticut Governor John Hayne.

Not all these men actually lived on their land. Many sold it to profit from or employed an overseer to cultivate their property. Many men, however, actually brought their wives and children, which indicated their plans on forming a community in the Mystic River Valley.

There was one recorded case of a woman who did not come to the Mystic River Valley as a wife. Widow Margaret Lake received a grant from the Massachusetts Bay authority and was the only woman to receive a land grant in her own name.<ref name="Fought, Leigh 2007"/> She also did not live on her land but hired other people to maintain it. She took up residence in Lakes Pond. Her daughter was married to John Gallup, while her sister was married to Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop.<ref name="Fought, Leigh 2007"/>

By 1675, settlement had grown tremendously in the Mystic River Valley, and infrastructure was beginning to appear as well as an economy. The Pequot Trail was used as a main highway to get around the Mystic River and played a vital role in the settlers' lives, allowing them to transport livestock, crops, furs, and other equipment to and from their farm lands. However, those families living on the east side of the Mystic River were unable to make any use of the Pequot Trail. As early as 1660, Robert Burrows was authorized to institute a ferry somewhere along the middle of the river's length. This earned his home the name of "Half-way House".<ref name="American Journey 2004"/>

The Pequot Trail also connected the settlers to their church. Stonington residents found it difficult to attend church in Mystic or Groton, and this led to the creation of their own church. The town of Stonington was then established as separate from Mystic in regards to church attendance and was granted leave to build a church of their own. The building became known as the Road Church.<ref name="American Journey 2004"/>

Colonists began public schools in this area around 1679, and John Fish became the first schoolmaster in Stonington, conducting classes and lessons in his home.<ref name="Fought, Leigh 2007"/>  Education was a very important thing to the New England colonists, enabling children and servants to learn literacy skills. Most families throughout New England had six or more children in each household, giving Fish plenty of students.

===18th century===
[[File:Mystic, Connecticut (circa 1901).jpg|thumb|right|Main Street (circa 1901)]]

By the first decade of the 18th century, three villages had begun to develop along the Mystic River. The largest village was called Mystic (now [[Old Mystic]]), also known as the Head of the River because it lay where several creeks united into the Mystic River estuary.<ref name="American Journey 2004"/>  Two villages lay farther down the river. One was called Stonington and was considered to be Lower Mystic, consisting of twelve houses by the early 19th century. These twelve houses lay along Willow Street, which ended at the ferry landing. This is now the Stonington side of the village of Mystic.  On the opposite bank of the river in the town of [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]] stood the village that became known as [[Portersville, Connecticut|Portersville]]. This is the Groton side of the village of Mystic.<ref name="Fought, Leigh 2007"/>

===National Register of Historic Places===
Mystic has three [[historic districts in the United States|historic district]]s: the [[Mystic Bridge Historic District]] around U.S. Route 1 and Route 27, [[Rossie Velvet Mill Historic District]] between Pleasant Street and Bruggeman Place, and the [[Mystic River Historic District]] around U.S. Route 1 and Route 215. Other historic sites in Mystic are:
* ''[[Joseph Conrad (ship)]]'' at Mystic Seaport Museum
* ''[[Charles W. Morgan (ship)]]'' at Mystic Seaport Museum
* ''[[Emma C. Berry (sloop)]]'' at Mystic Seaport Museum
* ''[[L. A. Dunton (schooner)]]'' at Mystic Seaport Museum
* [[Pequotsepos Manor]] on Pequotsepos Road
* ''[[Sabino (steamer)]]'' at Mystic Seaport Museum