The area now known as North Westport, MA is a place that deserves more attention than it has previously received, and there’s no better place to start than at the very beginning of European settlement in this part of town in this March 20, 2021 presentation.
Utilizing a mix of old maps, deeds, field surveys, surrounding land purchases, and Proprietors records, Albert Lees III, President of the Westport Historical Society, focused on shifting boundaries, land ownership during the first one-hundred years (1650’s-1750’s approximately) and began to explore the earliest travel routes that impacted this part of town.
(Above) A map of Native American tribal lands by author Lisa Brooks (click on maps to enlarge) places North Westport and the Dartmouth purchase, outlined in red, in the center of early 17th century land purchases in southern Plymouth Colony by English colonists.
This was a land carved out and carved up differently in many respects from other parts of Westport. Particular emphasis was placed on the fluidity of “ownership” and the importance of cross-border exchange.
