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Lesson 5: The Story of How Deerfield Came to
Be
1 class period (85 minutes)
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| Key Content Ideas Taught in this Lesson and
Teacher Background |
The Native Peoples had lived in the Connecticut
Valley for nearly 10,000 years, prior to the English settlement.
Their culture and lifeways were markedly different from that of
the English Settlers.
The Dedham Grant, which provided for the settlement
of Deerfield, and the subsequent division of land among the early
settlers, also provided the setting for the interactions between
the English settlers and native Peoples in a relationship that was
both expanding and contracting over time.
Teacher Background Essays:
1. Native American
Presence in Deerfield
2. The Dedham Grant
3. Map Fragment, circa 1686
4. Deerfield As a Frontier Settlement
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| Intended Learning Outcomes |
Understandings
Students will understand:
- there were increasingly in this period competing political agendas,
and competition for land, power and wealth in Deerfield.
- the motivations for the settlement in Deerfield by the English.
- that both primary source materials and interpretive materials
of all types are rich sources of historical evidence.
Skills
Students will be able to:
- use a variety of primary source materials, to analyze these
sources, and to make logical inferences and supported conclusions.
- make reference to previously presented material.
- utilize technology to research information and present
projects
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| In Preparation for Teaching |
Read the Teacher Background Essays:
1. Native American Presence in Deerfield
2. The Dedham Grant
3. Map Fragment, circa 1686
4. Deerfield As a Frontier Settlement
Further Background Reading:
Melvoin, Richard. New England Outpost. New York: Norton,
1989
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Primary and Secondary Sources:
1. Melvoin, Richard. New England Outpost.
New York: Norton, 1989. pp. 276-292.
2. From Memorial Hall Website, The
Turns of the Centuries Exhibit: "Native Americans 1680-1720"
and "The Land 1680-1720." sections.
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| Activities |
Materials in Context |
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Activity 1
1. Invite students to share their eulogy
presentation about John Pynchon.
2. Revisit the Memorial Hall website,
Turns of the Centuries Exhibit section: "The Land 1680-1720"
and "Native Americans 1680-1720", to learn about
the culture that was to interact with the English.
3. Ask students to read the Melvoin article
to find out his understanding of the "frontier."
4. After students have completed the reading, ask them to
discuss and compare the "hedge" analogy of a frontier
by Melvoin with that earlier ideas set forth by Fredrick
Jackson Turner.
5. Instruct students to listen and take
notes on a short Dedham Grant lecture.
Assignment: In a journal entry,
describe the lifestyle of the Native Peoples in this area,
based on the discussion and the link to the Memorial Hall
site, the Turns of the Centuries Exhibit "The Land
1680-1720" and the "Native Americans 1680-1720"
sections as resources. Speculate about what could lead to
confrontations between these two groups.
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The
Turns of the Centuries Exhibit
Richard Melvoin's New England Outpost
pp. 276-292.
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The John Pynchon eulogy presentation
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