Nipmuc People

Nipmucs are among the "Eastern Woodlands" or Algonquian Indians of the East Coast. They the original people of Central New England. Nipmucs occupied a territory called "Nipnet" that extended from the New Hampshire and Vermont borders through Worcester County, Massachusetts, into northeastern Connecticut and northern Rhode Island. Before the arrival of Europeans in the area in 1620, abut 3000 Nipmuc people lived in 39 band encampments scattered throughout the land of Nipnet. Today, most of approximately 2000 people of Nipmuc heritage still live in parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, where ancestors of the Nipmucs have lived for over 10,000 years.