Dr. Kevin McBride, of the University of Connecticut and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, explains the significance of the land grant: “The irony is that during this time when most native lands in New England were being reduced, the Mashantucket Pequot land holdings are actually increasing. Compared to what happened the previous 30 years and what happens later, I think the 50-year period beginning in 1666 is probably a relatively prosperous time for the Pequots.” 

It was peace with the English that made the Pequots' good fortune possible. In the thirty years since the Pequot War, the tribe had become a close ally of the Connecticut colony, and Pequot daily life had begun to reflect a significant English influence.   

“When we excavate sites from the late 1600s,” says Dr. McBride, “we find an enormous amount of European trade goods.  Kettles, pot hooks, knives, gun parts, beads, tobacco pipes and a variety of other goods. And on the surface that would appear to reflect a high degree of assimilation into European culture. But underlying those artifacts and material culture is a very traditional Pequot way of life. They're still making ceramics. Their foods are still the same.  They're hunting, they're fishing, they're planting. Their houses look the same as they've always looked. The way they dress—they're maintaining their language. They are maintaining themselves in a lifestyle that they are choosing. And I think if you were to look at it objectively, you would come away saying they're maintaining cultural integrity.”

But difficult times lay ahead for the Mashantucket Pequots. The colonies were entering a period of unprecedented growth as the 17th century ended, and the Pequots were soon to discover that everything their English allies had given was very easily taken away.