Wampum, Saybrook’s First Currency

The founders of the Saybrook settlement in 1636 had no banks and no colonial
currency. In fact there were no banks in all of New England. And the limited
number of English coins in Boston brought over by the early merchants quickly
went back there to pay for supplies. But even in 1636 there was commerce up
and down the river settlements, and wampum was the accepted currency used to
pay for goods, especially for corn seed from the local tribes.