Westport aims to provide ‘full history’ of town’s founding with new historical markers

Officials enlisted the local historians at the Westport Museum to help with a new account that included the indigenous peoples who used to live on the land and the enslaved Africans who helped build the town.

News 12 Staff

Jul 20, 2021, 6:57 PM

Updated 1,156 days ago

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TEAM Westport and the Westport Museum for History and Culture say they added new, more inclusive historical markers to honor the contributions to the history of the town.
Harold Bailey, the chair for TEAM Westport, says the old historical marker behind Town Hall characterized Westport as a "white settlement." Officials enlisted the local historians at the Westport Museum to help with a new account that included the indigenous peoples who used to live on the land and the enslaved Africans who helped build the town.
"The reason for doing this is to have an accurate, full history of how the town got founded,” Bailey told News 12.
Westport Museum director Ramin Ganeshram says it's important to view history from multiple perspectives.
"You live in a place that is so nice because of contributions of others, and you feel that,” she said. “…It's worth paying attention to and it builds a sense of being thankful, on some level, for everyone's contribution."
The new markers can be found behind Town Hall and at 22 ½ Main Street. Organizers say they hope to have more inclusive historical markers up around town soon.