NUGGET #13
Mamanasco: Name first appears in description of the first purchase of land from local natives in 1708 for a boundary that “extends to a place called Mamanasquag, where an oak tree is marked on ye north side of the outlet of water that comes out from a sort of grassy pond, which is known and called by said name…” Some have thus interpreted the word as meaning “grassy pond.” Huden translates the word as “united outlets,” or “two sharing the same outlet,” suggesting Mamanasco may have been two ponds. Mamanasco has at least 12 versions of spellings in land records including: Mamanasquag (1709), Mamanasquogg (1716), Mamanusco (1741), Mamanausco (1745), Mamanusqua (1745), Mamansquog (pre-1750), Mammenusquah (pre-1750), Mamenasco (1746), Mamenasqua (1750), Mammenasco (1790), and Mammenusquag (1797).
From Jack Sanders, Ridgefield Names.
