Yesterday I took a trip to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in eastern CT after a short camping trip, and thought I’d recommend it here. It’s the largest museum focused on indigenous people in the world, which isn’t surprising since the money comes largely from Foxwoods, the largest casino in the world.
The museum features of a lot of exhibits that I found interesting both as an aspiring hunter-gatherer, and as someone with an anthropology degree. A lot of exhibits focus on primitive technology, showing the tools used for various task, and the means of gathering and processing materials. Here and there around the museum are small theater rooms in which films instruct viewers as to how to make things, such as wooden bowls. Just about every exhibit had at least a quick explanation of how things were done or made, and they have a huge walk-through reproduction of a 16th century Pequot village in which many aspects of village life were depicted, such as hunting, tanning, and gardening, and which includes one cozy wigwam you can enter to get a feel of them. This particular one was adorned inside not just with deer and bear hides, but also some extra fancy carved pipes and slightly more exotic furs like a mink tobacco bag, because it was supposed to be the dwelling of the sachem.
Aside from all the exhibits related to traditional tribal life, there’s a lot of good stuff about Pequot history, and a temporary exhibit about the idea of race. If any of you are in the area sometime and have a few hours to spend somewhere, I highly recommend shelling out the $15 admission. It’s worth it. I’m thinking of spending the $40 for a one-year membership, since I live not too far away.