Sacred Stone Monument (CT)

    "Many Native Americans opted to remove themselves from English towns and moved west or north. But many refused to leave their homelands, which were sacred to them. The land was given by the Creator to the tribe. Their ancestors lived and were buried in the homelands. The spirit world revolved about them, and the landscape was filled with objects that signified important events and persons in tribal history, and commemorated sacred stories...(page 4)

     And so it was that many tribal leaders sought ways in which their communities could survive the social and cultural upheavals caused by English settlement, yet still remain within their sacred homelands. This was the historical backdrop for western Connecticut when the first Moravian missionary arrived in New York City in 1740. 

     Permissiveness extended to traditional native spirituality. For example, the resident minister frequently called off or curtailed services because Schaghticoke members were conducting sweat lodge ceremonies, such as the ritual cleansing of hunters prior to a game hunt.

     They also tolerated the presence of a sacred stone monument along the main road across from the tribe’s winter village. Stone and brush monuments are traditional indigenous mnemonic devices for remembering important tribal events, sacred stories, and spirit beings..."

Dr. Lucianne Lavin:

https://www.academia.edu/5403396/The_Moravian_Mission_at_Schaghticoke_Indigenous_Survival_Strategies_and_the_Melding_of_Christian-Indian_Ideologies