Tunxis Monument

A brown sandstone monument, erected in 1840 at Riverside Cemetery, honors the Tunxis tribe.  Inscribed on it are the lines of Hartford poet Lydia Huntley Sigourney:

Chieftains of a vanished race,
In your ancient burial place,
By your father’s ashes blest,
Now in peace securely rest.

It is said that on moonlit nights a Tunxis Indian can still be seen walking through “Hooker’s Grove” with a deer slung over his shoulder. Some say that Hooker’s Grove is near Diamond Glen Road, while others place it near the Hooker gravestone in Riverside Cemetery.

 A collection of Tunxis Indian artifacts, found on the grounds of the Lewis Walpole Library, is on display at the Day-Lewis Museum, the little red house at 158 Main  Street. The Day Museum