After 350 years, CT’s Thames River could be renamed

In Connecticut, the saying may go that Thames does rhyme with James. A newly-proposed bill by state lawmakers, however, would call the river by another name that hasn’t been used in hundreds of years.

The 15-mile Thames River — which flows between Norwich and New London — would be officially renamed the Pequot River under legislation introduced on Tuesday by state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London.

The change would reflect the name used by first European explorers to eastern Connecticut, after the Native American people who inhabited the river’s valley. The river’s current name dates to 1658, when colonists paying homage to their English roots named their settlement on the west bank of the river in New London, and adopted their own, modified pronunciation of the River Thames to go along with it.

“There was really no reason for them to change the name,” Nolan told CT Insider. “They changed it just because they wanted to be from a place overseas, in Europe. That didn’t sit right with me.”

Nolan said that he first became aware of the river’s historic name during a local tour several years ago. Within the last year, he said, he began discussing the idea of changing the name with Rodney Butler, the chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

In a statement released through a spokeswoman on Tuesday, Butler said that the tribal nation’s historic preservation team is currently gathering research to support a reclamation of the Pequot name.

“We are very encouraged by the interest in restoring historic names to Connecticut’s geographic landmarks — the Pequot

River being one prominent example,” Butler said.

The spokeswoman, Patty McQueen, said the name “Pequot” also reflects the name that members of the tribal nation use for the river.

Nolan’s bill directs the state’s Departments of Transportation and Energy and Environmental Protection to update their official lists containing the names of Connecticut’s “brooks, rivers, ponds, lakes and other bodies of water,” which are kept by the Secretary of the State.

The bill does not say whether the state or towns along the river would have to replace signs bearing the name of the river, or give any indication as to how much the switch would cost.

The Department of Transportation has yet to analyze the bill or determine a cost associated with replacing signs along the river, according to spokesman Josh Morgan, who added that the agency has its own in-house shop capable of producing some signage.

There are three bridges that cross the river including the Gold Star Memorial Bridge carrying I-95, which is already due for a $158 million overhaul using federal funds.

Nolan said he’s heard some scattered opposition from local residents who argue that the river’s current name has become entwined with the region’s history after more than 350 years. Responding to that argument, Nolan said “To me it is about history, it’s about the history that’s been taken away.”

In New London, Mayor Michael Passero said he supported “paying homage” to the area’s indigenous inhabitants, though he added that he’s yet to discuss the idea with industries and federal facilities located along the river, which he said could spark “complications.”

While the river is less than one-fourteenth the length of its

English namesake, it has maintained a national significance as the home of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the submarine base and shipyard in Groton, as well as two Revolutionary-War era forts.

As a tidal estuary, the river also serves as an important habitat spawning fish, such as the striped bass. Last summer, a dolphin was spotted swimming in the Thames near its source in Norwich.

In 1637, decades before the river took its current name, more than 400 members of the Pequot tribe were massacred in a pre-dawn attack by English settlers and their Native American allies. After the massacre, many of the remaining Pequots were enslaved or assimilated into other nearby tribes, while most of their lands were taken over by colonists. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation received federal recognition in 1983.