In the spirit of truth and equity, it is with gratitude and humility that we pay tribute to the Mohegan Tribe, the original stewards of the land where the City of Norwich now stands.  Norwich can trace its origins to the year 1659, when Chief Uncas gave a gift of 9 miles square of his native homeland to the immigrant people surrounding him.  The Norwich Historical Society recognizes the town’s debt to that landmark event of centuries ago and acknowledges the encroachments which resulted in the eventual dispossession of the Tribe’s land.  The descendants of Uncas continue to live and work beside us in the present and will be among us in the generations that follow. We now work toward greater awareness of the inequities of history, most especially the destruction of the Tribe’s burying grounds which resulted in the establishment of a memorial grove dedicated in 2008.  As we move forward to the future, let us not forget the past so that we can build an inclusive and equitable location for all those who come to occupy what was once solely Native land.