historical perspective
A
s the tide goes out at Silver Sands State Park, a path of rocks and sediment rises from the floor of Long Island Sound, as if nature itself is building a highway between the Milford shore and Charles Island.
MARYALICE MANNING
Awash in History The word tombolo is Italian meaning “pillow” or “cushion” and comes from the Latin meaning “mound”.
Colloquially, the folks in Milford have long
In his book, Dooling notes that the native
is where native peoples in coastal areas
called it the “Charles Island sandbar” but it’s
people referred to the island as “Poquahaug.”
would deposit their shells over time after
actually a tombolo—an uncommon type of
A small stone carving of a bird discovered
eating clams or oysters or scallops,” Chaucer
isthmus formed when waves deposit matter
on the island in the 1970s remains the most
explains. “Over time, those middens get
in the same area over time. Milford’s tombolo
compelling evidence that Native Americans
buried with leaves coming down and so
is mainly made up of pebbles and cobble.
roamed there, Dooling writes.
forth. Shell does not deteriorate; it stays for
According to CT State geologist Meghan
Tim Chaucer is a local historian who operates
thousands of years. So, I have seen evidence of
Seremet, the tombolo was formed about
the Milford Marine Institute, a summer camp
17,500 years ago. “It’s similar to a spit or
that teaches children about the natural history
And those native peoples would have
sandbar except it connects to an island and
and ecology of Long Island Sound. It celebrates
almost certainly used the tombolo’s cobble
that’s why it’s called a tombolo,” Seremet
its 40th anniversary this summer.
says. “It’s a unique situation there at the Silver Sands State Park.” And it’s likely, historians say, that humans have been traversing the tombolo back and forth from Charles Island for thousands of years. “The Charles Island tombolo is one of relatively few such features in the world,” says Michael C. Dooling, a Connecticut-based historian and author of An Historical Account of Charles Island, who recently released a second, expanded version of the book. “The indigenous peoples who lived in what would become Milford must have been mesmerized by it, as well as the early European settlers in the area.”
54 Milford Living • Summer
people who have formerly lived out there.”
Chaucer said he’s seen other evidence
Land access to Charles Island is at the mercy of the
of Native American population on Charles
tides and walkers are warned to keep a close watch
Island—shell middens. “A shell midden
or find themselves stranded...or wet.