Norwich — Representatives from Native American tribes in Alaska, New Mexico, Arizona and California on Wednesday marveled at stories of 17th- and 18th-century interactions between the Mohegan Tribe and early Norwich settlers and how their relations continue today.

Mohegan Tribal Historian Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel gave brief tribal histories of the Uncas Leap area and the nearby Royal Mohegan Burial Grounds to 17 visitors, including five members of a steering committee touring seven sites being considered for a national forum on environmental issues linked to tribal sites.

About 500 tribal representatives from across the country are expected to attend the Tribal Land and Environmental Forum to be held Aug. 15-18 at the convention center at Mohegan Sun Casino.

The steering committee started its visit Wednesday by examining how the giant casino, hotel and entertainment complex handles trash, recyclables and water usage.

“It's so very different from Alaska,” said steering committee Chairwoman Victoria Kotongan of Unalakleet, Alaska. “After the new hotel goes up (at Mohegan Sun), it will be able to fit two of my whole villages.”

The group expanded to include Norwich city leaders, Amy Jean McKeown of the New England office of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Uncas Leap neighbor Patricia Rider, as Zobel described the importance of the Royal Burial Grounds at the corner of Washington and Sachem streets.

The burial ground for the families of tribal leaders, originally encompassed 16 acres.

But as settlers built homes and roads, graves were excavated and remains — even recent burials — were burned.

About 10 years ago, tribal historians erected a large granite marker naming about two dozen tribal members known to be buried in the cemetery, Zobel said.

Some of their stories are poignant, she said, such as the “two infants” buried in 1738.

Others elicit comic reactions, as tribal leaders took the names of Caesar and Pompi, great Roman warriors they learned about from Europeans.

“All of these stories,” Zobel said. “They add to Norwich history.”

Zobel stressed the continuous relationship the Mohegan Tribe maintained over the centuries with Norwich.

The tribe's early treaties were with Norwich leaders, not the British or federal government.

The Uncas Leap property, mostly owned by the city, was part of the Sept. 17, 1643, Battle of Sachem Plains between the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes.

Zobel asked visitors to take note of the narrow gorge flanked by towering rocky cliffs on each side of the Yantic River.

She then directed the group away from the roar of the waterfall and told how Uncas made the “long jump” across the gorge during the battle, while many others fell to their deaths.

Zobel's great aunt, Mohegan Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who died in 2005 at age 105, told her that the chasm was much narrower in Uncas' time, making the tale more believable.

Steering committee members were no less impressed by the lasting presence of 19th-century industrial structures at Uncas Leap, one of the earliest manufacturing sites in the city, powered by the waterfall.

Former Norwich Community Development Corp. Vice President Jason Vincent told visitors of the plan to create a heritage park using state, federal and local grants.

The city plans to tear down the decayed 1910 brick building and preserve the adjacent 1840 granite mill that stands at the edge of the cliff.

Gary Evans, Norwich community development director, said he is seeking approval from both the state and the Mohegan historic preservation offices to tear down the brick building and an abandoned 1980s duplex to remove blight and better preserve the natural setting at Uncas Leap.

Norwich Mayor Deberey Hinchey called the plans “a real team effort” among the city, Mohegan Tribe, the Norwich Historical Society and volunteers.

Vincent said the city obtained a $10,000 grant from Norwich Rotary to create a walking tour, with signs and display panels and an accompanying brochure to promote the Uncas Leap Trail and a second tour the boyhood jaunts of Benedict Arnold's — a name readily familiar to the western tribal representatives.

“These are stories, in my mind, that make this a world heritage site,” Vincent said to applause from several in the group.

c.bessette@theday.com