Mohican Blessing Fountain

Mohican Blessing Fountain. . , Thé Mohican Blessing Fountain was erected by the New Lebanon Garden Club in 1941 to give thanks to the Mohican Indians for their gift of the healing waters of the thermal mineral springs to all people forever. The Mohicans were the original inhabitants not only of New Lebanon and Columbia County but of a vast territory encompassing significant parts of New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut., The first reported gift of the water was in 1756 when Mohicans living at their village at Stockbridge, Ma. carried the first European to bathe in the healing springs to cure a debilitating illness. This person was James Hitchcock,a member of the British army stationed near Stockbridge, who had a severe skin disease that doctors could not cure. The Mohicans brought Hitchcock to the healing springs, bathed him and tended to him for a few weeks until his symptoms disappeared., The second recorded gift of the water was when the Mohicans sold the land of their former village of Kaunaumeek, present day New Lebanon, to Charles Goodrich in 1759 with the assurance from Goodrich that the healing waters would remain free for all people forever as a condition of the sale. Goodrich agreed to the terms of the sale and kept his promise, not only during his ownership but upon selling the property containing the healing springs in 1778, he restated the original wishes of the Mohicans when he gifted the springs to the Town of New Lebanon using specific language to insure that all people would have free use of the waters of the springs for all times. , Since that time, there have been three court cases related to ownership of the springs brought before the NYS Supreme Court. In all three cases, the Supreme Court ruled that "the waters of the springs will be free for all peoples forever". When the New Lebanon Garden Club decided to honor the Mohicans with a monument in the form of a fountain, they hired the renowned sculptor, Henry Hudson Kitson, design the fountain and create the bronze sculpture which adorns it. Kitson painstakingly searched the area for the boulders and stones that would make up the base of the fountain but it is the beautiful bronze likeness of a Native American drinking water from his cupped hands that make this fountain a one-of-a-kind work of art truly reflective of the Mohicans' gift of the waters and their vast contributions to our town, our state and our country., Kevin Fuerst, New Lebanon Town Historian