What is "potatuck"

The Potatuck tribe (also Pohtatuck, Pootatuck) were a Native American tribe that was a subgroup of the Paugussett Nation, historically located during and prior to the colonial era in western Connecticut, United States. They lived in what is present-day Newtown, Woodbury and Southbury of Fairfield County, and along the whole Housatonic River, including the Schaghticoke tribe. After losses due to epidemics and warfare, they merged in the early eighteenth century with other remnant Native American groups in the area, forming the Schaghticoke tribe. Its descendants are recognized as a tribe by the state of Connecticut.

The Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation, made up of Paugussett descendants in Bridgeport, is also one of the five tribes recognized by the state in the 21st century.

Like the other Paugussett bands or sub-tribes, the Potatuck were a farming and fishing culture. The women cultivated varieties of their staple crops, corn, squash, and beans, as well as the tobacco valued for ritual use. They also gathered berries, nuts and other natural resources. The men fished in freshwater much of the year, and hunted deer and small game. They may have traveled to the coast of Long Island Sound to fish from saltwater in summer months.