Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Pauquacumsuck / Pahquahkossit (Wading River)

Wading River’s Indigenous name connects the creek with quahog gathering and Native knowledge of the coastal landscape. Paucamp’s 1660 testimony preserves that connection, while later Native-led church history shows community life continuing beyond the colonial deeds. Unearthing early pre-fishtail arrowheads, archaeologists identified Pahquahkossit as an Archaic period winter camp occupied as early as 2595 BC along the sheltered banks of present-day Wading River. Documenting such seasonal habitation sites demonstrates how Indigenous extended families successfully utilized and adapted to Long Island's specific ecological zones over thousands of years. Pauquacumsuck is connected with the creek now known as Wading River in Riverhead, and earlier Pahquahkossit is one of its related historical forms. In testimony recorded in 1660, the elder Paucamp described the Occabauk boundary reaching a...