Derby honors the location of two Native American forts with inscribed boulders.
The site of the “New Fort” is marked on the southwest side of Roosevelt Drive (Route 34,) near the section with Lakeview Terrace and across the street from the Osbornedale State Park garage.
An inscription on the boulder’s northeast face reads, “The new fort. Prior to 1654, the Paugasuck (Paugasset) Indians built their second fort near this spot.”
The boulder’s southwest face bears an inscription reading, “Erected by Sarah Riggs Humprey chapter, D.A.R, 1916.”
A boulder marking the site of the natives’ first fort stands in a small traffic island near the intersection of Seymour Avenue and Division Street. The boulder’s northwest face bears an inscription reading, “Great Neck. In this locality stood the old Indian fort prior to 1654.”
Derby was settled as a trading post in 1654, and was named for Derby, England, in 1675.
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