396 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



as there are many large cobble stones lying around which abundantly 

 attest the action of fire. 



The "Pequot Mills," located in the woods directly west of Stephen 

 Hoyt's residence on "Smith's Ridge," was undoubtedly a favorite resort 

 of the Indians. Here are the remains of several ancient circular basins 

 or mortars in which the Indian women were wont to grind their corn, 

 salt or the stone material with which they tempered the clay for the 

 ancient Akeek, or cooking vessel; and here, also, about five hundred 

 feet above tide water mark, there is a spring of pure water which is said 

 to be perpetual. Near the " Pequot Mills" on the west side of Pudding 

 Lane near its junction with the New Canaan road, there was once to be 

 seen a mound of stones which covered the remains of an Indian chief. 

 Another spot in this vicinity said to have been the scene of a terrible 

 massacre of the Pequot Indians, in the early colonial times, is called 

 " Mount Misery." The Asproom Mountains, in the northern part of the 

 town, and bordering on Lake Wepuc, were favorite hunting grounds of 

 the great sachems Catoonah and Tappornuck in the olden times; stone 

 arrow and spear heads, axes and gouges are constantly found on the 

 farm of Alfred S. Hawley, Esq. A sister of Mr. Hawley many years 

 ago removed to western New York, where she accidentally encountered 

 an aged Mohegan Indian who assured her that in his youth, the tribe to 

 which he belonged, resided near Lake Waccabuc or Wepuc and that he 

 well remembered the rocky island on the lake, which they regarded with 

 great veneration, with its wonderful ovens dedicated to their god or 

 guardian Manito. Indeed all our native tribes who have occupied the 

 borders of the great lakes, have been very ingenious in converting to the 

 uses of superstition, masses of perforated rock or boulder stones, as 

 have been fretted by the action of water into a variety of shapes or 

 forms. 



Indian burying grounds are to be found in various parts of this 

 town, one is situated on the north side of the road leading from Bouton- 

 ville to Cross River, soon after passing the Wepuc stream, while another 

 is located on the north side of the road west of the bridge which crosses 

 the same stream, leading from South Salem to Cross River. 



Lewisborough includes seven miles in length of the south end of a 

 tract of land called the Oblong. This territory was a strip of one mile 

 three quarters and twenty rods wide, and nearly sixty-two miles long, 

 formed by the running of a line parallel with Hudson's River, and twenty 

 miles distant therefrom, to the south line of Massachusetts. The con- 

 troversy between the two colonies of New York and Connecticut, con- 

 cerning it, lasted nearly a century, during which time the disputed 



