The Other Mattatuck

One of the first things you learn when you study the history of Waterbury is that the town was originally called Mattatuck, an Anglicized version of a Paugussett word. The earliest appearance of the word in Connecticut is a deed from 1657/8 in which the Tunxis agreed to sell "a tract of land called Matetucke" to two land speculators, colonists from Farmington. In 1673, when others from Farmington were interested in starting up a new settlement, the colonial government recorded the name Mattatuck as both "Mattatock" and "Matitacoocke." Spelling in this era was often phonetic, based on the scribe's hearing of the word. 

The meaning of the word, however it was spelled, was not recorded at the time. Historians during the later nineteenth century determined that it meant "the place without trees" or "the badly wooded land" and was more correctly spelled "matuh'tugk" or "mat'ughtugk-ohke," depending on the precise translation. This did not mean that trees couldn't grow here: Connecticut's indigenous societies set controlled fires each year to prevent trees from growing, making it easier to hunt deer. The area may have been called "mattatuck" because it was maintained as a hunting ground.

The specific location of the original tract of land called Matetucke is unclear, but when colonists from Farmington wanted to start a new settlement in 1674, they said it would be "at Mattatuck, situate on each side of the Mattatuck river." They named their village Mattatuck and called it that until 1686, when the settlement was incorporated as the town of Waterbury.

 

Welcome to the other Mattatuck!

 

Before our Mattatuck was started, the village of Mattituck was established on Long Island. In 1649, settlers of Southold purchased land on the eastern end of the island which included "Corchaug and Mattatuck and all other Tracts of land by what names soever named...." The colonists of Long Island soon started the Village of Mattituck, which still exists today as part of the Town of Southold.

Southold was started by colonists from New Haven in 1640. At this time, the Dutch still held their colony of New York, but Connecticut colonists claimed most of Long Island. The easiest and quickest mode of travel was over water. New Haven, on Long Island Sound, had fairly easy access to Long Island. 

A Mattituck amateur historian of the early 1900s, Rev. Charles Craven, was unsure about the meaning of this use of the word Mattatuck. He believed "tuck" could be either tugk, meaning "wood" or "tree," or tuk, meaning "tidal river" or "estuary." He noted that English colonists transcribed both tugk and tuk as "tuck."

Craven considered the established translations of Waterbury's Mattatuck, but misinterpreted them due to his belief that "tuck" mean "tidal river." In his view, following the translation of Mattatuck as meaning "badly wooded" would mean Long Island's Mattituck translated to "the bad creek." Craven decided that the word was actually Massatuck, meaning "the great creek," which fit his opinion of how the creek should be viewed.

William Wallace Tooker, a historian who specialized in Native American place names of New York, believed Long Island's Mattatuck had the same meaning as our Mattatuck: a "place without trees" or "badly wooded." He found the name spelled several different ways by the English settlers of Long Island: Mattatuck, Matatucke, Mattaducke, Mattatuk, and Mattetuck. Tooker's research also found that in the 1650s, Southold had a shortage of timber, giving weight to the translation of their Mattatuck as a place without many trees.

Southold's settlers opted for their own spelling of the word, Mattituck. The village began as a Presbyterian parish in 1715. Unlike Waterbury, Mattituck never developed manufacturing. Farming continues to the present day in Mattituck. The center of town is small, with stores that cater to wealthy summer visitors from New York City. The main road through the commercial center, Love Lane, is one block in length.

Shops on Love Lane, 2025

 

Mattituck Souvenirs

 

 

Mattituck farm stand

I visited Mattituck last summer. The Mattituck Historical Society (not to be confused with Waterbury's Mattatuck Historical Society) maintains several historic buildings that unfortunately weren't open during my visit.

 

Mattituck-Laurel Historical Society and Museums, a collection of historical buildings

Ira Tuthill House, built in 1811 as an attachment to an earlier house

Jesse Tuthill House, built in 1799

District School House, built sometime between 1760 and 1780

New Egypt School House, built in 1846

Milk House, with a small barn behind it

The barn has an exhibit of 19th century farm equipment

A peak inside the window of the barn to view the farm tool exhibit

Sources

Joseph Anderson, ed., The Churches of Mattatuck: A Record of A Bi-Centennial Celebration at Waterbury, Connecticut, November 4th and 5th, 1891 (New Haven, CT: Press of The Price, Lee & Adkins Company, 1892) 

Joseph Anderson, ed., The Town and City of Waterbury, Volume I (New Haven, CT: The Price & Lee Company, 1896) 

Rev. Charles E. Craven, A History of Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y. (Published for the Author, 1906) 

Lucianne Lavin, Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples: What Archaeology, History, and Oral Traditions Teach Us about Their Communities and Cultures (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2013) 

J. Hammond Trumbull, Indians Names of Places etc., In and On The Borders fo Connecticut: With Interpretations of Some of Them (Hartford, CT: Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1881)

J. Hammond Trumbull, The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, From 1665 to 1678 (Hartford, CT: F.A. Brown, 1852) 

William Wallace Tooker, The Indian Place-Names On Long Island and Islands Adjacent (New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1911) 

Rev. Epher Whitaker, History of Southold, L.I., Its First Century (Southold, NY: Printed for the Author, 1881) 

Alain C. White, ed., The History of the Town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 (Litchfield, CT: Enquirer Print, 1920)