Boston Harbor Islands

Boston skyline from Spectacle Island

Name: Boston Harbor Islands
Tribe: Nipmuc, Massachusett, Wampanoag, Pokonoket
Location: Boston, MA
Type: National Park, State Park
Visiting Info: May-October, Ferry Schedules; Ferry tickets: $10-17, round trip.
Contact: Website, telephone ("Ask a Ranger") 617-223-8666

"Histories and other studies prepared by and with American Indians are needed in order to adequately present Indian connections with the islands. In that those studies are not complete, the following sketch is offered to introduce the complex Native American topics associated with the park."

So begins the National Park Service's webpage about the Native history of the Boston Harbor Islands. The document gives an overview of the seasonal use of the harbor before European colonization and tells about the later forced removal and imprisonment of Natives on the islands after King Phillip's War.

The main prison camp was located on Deer Island, but there is evidence that Native people were also relocated to Peddocks, Long Island, and possibly one of the Brewster Islands. Records show that about half of the people died of starvation, exposure, and illness over the winter of 1675.

Today, as with so much of Indian Country, incredible beauty intermingles with historical horror. The islands, and the harbor itself, have been cleaned up and rejuvenated for public use after decades of environmental degradation. The area is both a state park and a national park and is managed in cooperation by several different agencies. More than 30 islands offer a variety of recreational opportunities and are served by a fairly extensive ferry service.

Hiking trail along the shore of Deer Island overlooking Boston

The park includes three National Historic Landmarks: Long Wharf, Fort Warren, and the 300-year old Boston Light, which is the oldest lighthouse station in the US. Spectacle Island offers a swimming beach, there's camping on Grape, Lovell, Bumpkin, and Peddocks Islands, hiking trails on most of the islands, a marina, and lots of other tours and activities.

The ferry leaves from Long Wharf in downtown Boston (also from ferry docks in Hingham and Hull, MA) and goes to Georges, Spectacle, Peddocks, Lovells, Thompson, Grape, and Bumpkin Islands. You can also make hops between islands if you go early and plan your day carefully. Deer and Nut Islands, Webb Memorial Park, and World's End are accessible by car year-round. Little Brewster Island, home of the Boston Light station, is available only on Ranger-led tours.

Planning for a Native American Memorial is underway, with a site dedicated on Deer Island and a sculpture commissioned from Native artist Lloyd Gray–Nessatako (Mohawk Iroquois of the Onondaga People). There is currently a plaque and signage in place that gives a brief history of the island as a concentration camp.

A model of the proposed Memorial statue by Mohawk sculptor Lloyd Gray-Nessatako.
photo from nps.gov

A display in the Visitors' Center on Spectacle Island and informational signage on Peddocks Island also briefly present Native history and life on the islands.

Additionally, the National Park Service sponsored an award-winning video series called Living in Two Worlds: Native American Voices on the Boston Harbor Islands. Representatives of the Nipmuc, Massachusett, and Wampanoag tribes give the Native history of Eastern Massachusetts and the Harbor Islands and demonstrate preservation efforts and the resilience of living Native communities in New England today.

Resources:

National Park Service history of Native Americans and the BHI
Deer Island BHI profile
Island Facts: Deer Island at NPS
Native American Trail Project

Native American Voices on the Boston Harbor Islands video series

Travel Journal: Aquinnah, Noepe (Martha's Vineyard), MA

Traveling with kids is always an adventure. I love to take my kids with me when I get the chance to visit Native communities so they can learn along with me. We have had some great conversations as a result of our travels, and I hope they are more aware of the presence and history of Native people in this country.

But nothing ever goes quite the way you plan when the kids are along for the ride, and you have to learn to roll with it. Sometimes, you just get handed a soggy detour and a recalculation of what you can hope to accomplish that day. This is a story about one of those trips...

They look sweet don't they? No! Don't let them out of your sight for even a second.

We recently had the opportunity to spend an off-season weekend on Martha's Vineyard at a highly reduced price for the rental house. I have been wanting to get out there for ages, but it's pretty expensive even by pricey Massachusetts' standards. The house we were offered was a big one, so the whole family went with us, including grandparents and a cousin.

I didn't have a lot of hope of making it all they way out to Aquinnah, which is on the far western "up island" end of MV away from the ferry ports and our rental in Oak Bluffs, even though I really wanted to check out the Aquinnah (Wampanoag) Cultural Center and the beautiful cliffs on Moshup's Beach. With less than 48 hours on the island and a crowd in tow, I figured we would bump around Oak Bluffs for the day, see the Campground cottages, ride the Flying Horses Carousel, eat some fried clams, and call it good as a scouting trip for future visits. At least I could figure out the ferry options, find some places to eat, and get my bearings.

But fortune smiled on me. The rest of the family was as curious as I was to scope out the whole island, so we ended up renting a car (which all the travel advice says you don't need to do) and spent a whole day making our way out to the Aquinnah Cliffs and back.



Friday afternoon we drove down from Boston to Falmouth to catch the Island Queen Ferry. There are several ferry companies leaving out of Falmouth, Woods Hole, Hyannis, New Bedford, MA, NYC, and Rhode Island: some seasonal, some year round, some are high-speed hovercraft, only Steamship Authority carries cars and all the rest are passenger only (and bikes), all with different hourly schedules. There are also water taxi services and a small airport. It takes some research and planning to even get to Oak Bluffs (or Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, the two other ferry terminals). Are you flying in to New England, taking the train, or are you driving down to the Cape? Will you take your car to the island or pay for parking in the ferry lot? Will you take bikes or rent them in Oak Bluffs? If you are already on the Cape, you can just pop over to MV for the day and back, but if you're coming in from far away and staying for some time, you need a plan.

We took the last ferry over that day and landed in Oak Bluffs right at sunset in need of some dinner and groceries for the morning. There are taxis lined up on the docks whenever the scheduled boats come in, so it was a breeze to grab a van instead of schlepping all the tired kids and luggage a mile uphill to our house. We picked up some pizza and fried clams at Giordano's and some breakfast things and beer at Jim's Package Store and Island Market and settled in around the big dining room table to make plans for the next day.

The off-season weather was too chilly and breezy for a typical day on the beach, so after much discussion, we decided to rent a car at the last minute. We called Martha's Vineyard Auto Rentals first thing in the morning on Saturday, and to my surprise, they actually had a car available that was big enough for all of us. Again, keep in mind that this is all off-season (or what they call around here "shoulder" season, which is spring and fall just outside the normal summer rush). I wouldn't wait until the last minute if you go in summer. Also, we could have used the island bus system, but that wasn't really an option for the crowd I was with for various reasons. And Aquinnah is about 20 miles from Oak Bluffs (MV is BIG, y'all!), so bikes were out for us as well.

We loaded up the kids and hit the open road. In summer, I understand that the roads are clogged with pedestrians and kids on bikes headed for the beaches, especially around the main harbor towns. But off-season we made our way up island on the State Road fairly easily. We stopped in Vineyard Haven to have lunch at the iconic Black Dog Cafe, and made a pit stop at the quirky and historical Alley's General Store in West Tisbury.

The inner part of the island is covered with rolling farms and tiny towns with peeling houses and small churches. It feels as remote and disregarded - and, ironically, as far from the ocean - as the little prairie towns I grew up in. I definitely lost track of my location in the world a couple of times as we drove through the woods and sheep pastures. After almost two hours of eating and meandering and sightseeing, we finally approached Aquinnah Circle on the far western end of the island.

There's some street parking on the circle and also a $15/day parking lot. You are welcome to use the public restroom located in the middle of the loop if you pay 50 cents.

Aquinnah was called Gay Head until the town, which is heavily populated by members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), voted to change the name in 1998. Gay Head refers to the "gaily" colored cliffs on the headland of Moshup's Beach. Aquinnah Circle, therefore, is home to the newly-restored Gay Head Lighthouse, The Wampanoag's Aquinnah Cultural Center, and a collection of small shops and restaurants owned by tribal members.

Looking back up the path from the Cultural Center (left) with the Lighthouse behind (right).

There are trails from the circle that go past the Cultural Center and down to beach where the colorful cliffs stretch back along the bright blue water and pristine sand towards the lighthouse. According the Wampanoag, Moshup the Giant lives in Aquinnah, and when he catches a whale, he bashes it up against the cliffs, leaves the bones to crumble into the sand, and then cooks the meat over an open campfire. This accounts for the streaks of red, white, and black down the fronts of the cliffs.

The Aquinnah Cliffs at Moshups Beach

(Be aware: if you walk all the way down to the point under the lighthouse, the far end of the beach is traditionally a nude beach! My father-in-law ran into a guy who didn't quite get the message that the whole beach wasn't for old naked dudes. Also, the fragile clay cliffs are now a protected National Landmark, so giving yourself a mud bath like the hippies used to do here in the 60's or climbing up them is no longer allowed.)

My girls love the beach, so everyone immediately took off down the hill to the water's edge. I took a good look and a few photos of the cliffs and then snuck back up the boardwalk to tour the Cultural Center in peace. The Center is housed in a picturesque little New England-style grey shingled cottage known as the Vanderhoop Homestead.

Open Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 11am-4pm.

The Vanderhoop family are still a major part of the Wampanoag community here, and many of the stories told by the docent inside concerned the history of the family and the way they and the rest of their Native community lived here in Aquinnah through the centuries. There was a mishoon (a traditional canoe) and a cauldron used to render whale fat on display in the yard. Inside the house they have an fascinating old machine invented by a tribal member to sort cranberries as well as examples of the colorfully streaked Aquinnah clay pots the Wampanoag used to make for the tourists from the passenger ships that went by this end of the island in previous centuries.

Right in the middle of the tour, I started to get a string of texts. At first, I tried to reach into my purse and shut my phone off inconspicuously, but then I remembered my kids down on the beach and felt I really ought to check the messages. Good thing I did. My husband was trying to get me to come back to the car because our oldest daughter had fallen into the ocean and was soaking wet in the back of the van, sheltering from the chilly weather and cold wind. This is the daughter of mine who ALWAYS falls in the water and gets soaked from head to toe no matter what the weather or what she's wearing at the time. One of these days I'll learn my lesson and never take her to the beach in cooler weather unless she's wearing a full-body wet suit, but at least I had enough forethought to throw some extra towels in the car just in case! By the time I climbed back up the hill to the parking lot, they had her wrapped up in towels and were ready to go.

My Aquinnah adventure had to come to a rather abrupt end. I didn't fully finish the Cultural Center tour or get to visit the shops on the cliff or eat fried clams overlooking the sea at the Vanderhoop family-owned Aquinnah Shop Restaurant. As we drove right past the Orange Peel Bakery (also owned by a Vanderhoop), I struggled not to demand a quick stop for bread we didn't need lest my weary family leave me on the side of the road and continue home without me.

Oh Aquinnah, I saw more and less of you than I had hoped when I started out on this trip, but that's the way it goes. You are unbearably beautiful and so hard to get to, but I'll be back. Maybe by myself next time.

Also see my other blog post about Aquinnah as well as my posts about the related Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on Cape Cod's mainland.

Ocmulgee National Monument

Stairs up the Great Temple Mound
photo from Wikimedia

Name: Ocmulgee National Monument
Tribe: Mississippian and Lamar cultures, Muscogee (Creek)
Location: 1207 Emory Highway, Macon, GA 31217
Type: National Park, prehistoric mounds, hiking trails, museum, events
Visiting Info: Open daily, 9am-5pm, Admission is free except for special events
Contact: Website, telephone 478-752-8257

The Ocmulgee National Monument, located on the Ocmulgee River in Macon, GA, preserves 702 acres of prehistoric mounds and other earthworks built on a site that has been inhabited by Native people for an estimated 17,000 years. The site came under the protection of the National Park Service in 1934 and was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1966.

Although people have been living and hunting along the river since the last Ice Age, the seven mounds located in the park were built by the South Appalachian Mississippian people around 900 AD. The largest earthwork is the Great Temple Mound, which is 55 feet high and has a wooden stairway that visitors can climb to take in the view from the top. Nearby is the Lesser Temple Mound, and the park also includes a burial mound, other small ceremonial mounds, and defensive earthwork trenches.

Park Map via NPS

In addition to the mounds, the park includes six miles of hiking and biking trails, fishing and picnicking areas, and an 800 foot long boardwalk over wetlands. There is also a historic railroad bridge, some civil war era landmarks, the historic site of an English colonial trading post from 1690, and a reconstructed ceremonial earthlodge, the floor of which is the original one thousand year old floor of a Mississippian earthlodge.

Two more mounds and the remains of a palisade and village are located three miles away at the Lamar Mounds and Village Site. The Lamar culture developed after the decline of the Mississippian culture around 1300 AD. The Lamar site is part of the Ocmulgee National Monument park but is accessible only by a park ranger-guided tour and four mile roundtrip hike (call 478-752-8257 for details and reservations).

Ocmulgee Visitor Center
photo from ONMA

Inside the striking, terracotta and white art moderne Visitor Center, there is a gift shop and a small theater area presenting a short orientation film, "Mysteries of the Mounds." An archaeology museum displays thousands of artifacts from excavations that have taken place onsite. Other exhibits detail the history of the Ocmulgee River location, including the rise of the Muscogee (Creek) Confederacy from the descendants of the Lamar people whose culture and population was decimated by disease spread by Hernando de Soto's expedition in 1540.

photo from ONMA on Facebook

Two special events are held at the ONM each year, the Lantern Light Tours in March and the Ocmulgee Indian Celebration in September. The Ocmulgee Indian Celebration is the largest Native gathering in the Southeastern United States and represents all the tribal nations from the region through hundreds of craftspeople and music, dance, food, storytelling, and more.

Resources:
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative
Ocmulgee National Monument Association

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum

photo from Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Facebook page

Name: Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum
Tribe: Seminole Tribe of Florida
Location: 34725 West Boundary Road, Big Cypress Seminole Reservation, Clewiston, FL, 33440
Type: Museum, Cultural Heritage, Traditional Crafts, Library/Archive
Visiting Info: Open everyday (closed some holidays), 9am-5pm, Guided tours by appointment, Library open by appointment, Mon-Fri, 9am-4:30pm; Admission: $7.50-$10
Contact: Website, telephone 877-902-1113

The Seminole Tribe of Florida (along with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida) is one of three federally-recognized tribes of the Seminole people. When the Native people of the Southeastern states were forced to move to Indian Territory, some of the Seminoles retreated into the Everglades, refusing to be removed. Today, the Seminole Tribe of Florida maintains six reservations in the southern part of the state, the largest of which is the Big Cypress Reservation near Clewiston in between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades National Park.

Big Cypress is home to the tribe's acclaimed Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum. Visitors start out in the museum space which includes a short introductory film and galleries depicting traditional Seminole communities and culture. Changing temporary exhibits explore contemporary Seminole life and people, such as the current exhibit on modern reinterpretations of Seminole patchwork clothing.

Exhibit runs until Nov. 30, 2105.

Outside the museum, a raised boardwalk path leads through a cypress grove, past the Clan Pavilion which presents background information on the eight current Seminole clans, to a replica ceremonial grounds and village. In the village, craftspeople demonstrate how they make traditional Seminole art pieces, which are then for sale.

photo from tripadvisor.com

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki also houses a library and an oral history museum. Much of the oral history recordings are available to tribal members only, but the museum posts some podcasts on their webpage. Some of their archival collections are also online.

Big Cypress Reservation is also home to the Billie Swamp Safari, the Junior Cypress Rodeo and Entertainment Complex, and the Big Cypress RV Resort, all of which are tribally-owned. The Seminole Tribe of Florida also owns several other business enterprises across the state (and the world), including the Hard Rock restaurants and casinos, two of which are on their reservations in Tampa and Hollywood, FL.

Resources:

Seminole Tribe of Florida

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki on Facebook
NPR's April 2013 All Things Considered feature "Meeting Florida's Seminoles Through Rediscovered Photos."

Great Mound of Mound Bottom State Park

Mound Bottom from May's Mace Bluff
photo by Scantonio via Wikipedia

Name: Mound Bottom Archaeological Site, Harpeth River State Park
Tribe: Mississippian culture
Location: Highway 70, Kingston Springs, TN 37887
Type: Historic, Archaeological Site, State Park
Visiting Info: Harpeth River State Park is open year-round from 7am until 4:30pm in winter and 7pm in summer, guided hikes to Mound Bottom occur Sundays at 1pm, Oct-Dec, by reservation only.
Contact: Website, telephone 615-952-2099

The complex of 14 mounds, tombs, a plaza, earthwork fortifications, and houses that make up the Mound Bottom Archaeological Site were probably built between 950 and 1300 AD. The settlement was constructed in a bend of the Harpeth River in what is now central-western Tennessee by the Mississippian culture that proceeded the Muscogee Creek confederacy. The primary Great Mound is 25 feet tall with a ramp that once went from a central plaza up to its flat top. A community of hundreds of homes enclosed by an earthen wall topped by a wooden palisade surrounded the Great Mound. The settlement was a ceremonial gathering place and trade center for the Mississippian people.

Today the Mound Bottoms State Park and the nearby Mississippian petroglyph of a ceremonial mace at May's Mace Bluff are part of the Harpeth River State Park. The park is open daily year-round, but the Mound Bottom site and the petroglyph are only accessible through a guided tour. The guided hikes are provided by the Tennessee State Parks Department and are offered on Sunday afternoons in the fall by appointment only. Mound Bottom artifacts from a 1970's archaeological dig can be viewed at the Park Office at Montgomery Bell State Park.

Resources:
Mound Bottom on Wikipedia

Indian Country Today article, "Celebrate the Great Mound of Mound Bottom in Tennessee."
Harpeth River State Park and Mound Bottom on Tennessee History for Kids
Historic Mound Bottom on the Harpeth River Watershed Association website
Mound Bottom on the Native History Association website

Medicine Wheel: To Go or Not to Go?

Before I saw this tweet, I had never heard of the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. I've never been to Wyoming and am not terribly familiar with these physical medicine wheel constructions on the northern plains. But 700 years is significant, this photo looks almost unreal, and the "most sacred site for Native Americans" part makes me nervous, so I was curious to find out the real story on this place.

The Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark is a fascinating place, especially for someone like me with anthropology/archaeology and history degrees and a strong interest in Native culture. But for someone (again, like me) who is writing a travel blog encouraging people to go learn about and experience Native America, a bunch of red flags also started waving in my head. While the Wheel is in a National Forest that welcomes visitors and does have interpreters onsite in the summer, it is a sacred and protected place. Should a non-Native traveler like me go there? Should we just stay away out of respectfulness?

The Medicine Wheel is located near the summit of Medicine Mountain in the Bighorn National Forest near Lovell, Wyoming. It has been used by Northwest Plains tribes such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Lakota, Dakota, Shoshone, Cree, Salish, Kootenai and Blackfeet for hundreds of years as a ceremonial location. Archaeologists believe that the surrounding area of connected sites has been in use by humans for more than 7,000 years. Between 70 and 150 similar medicine wheels have been found in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, but the Medicine Mountain wheel is one of the best preserved and most typical.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1969 and renamed Medicine Mountain National Historic Landmark (from Bighorn Medicine Wheel) in 2011. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has not had a strong history prior to these most recent agreements of partnering with Native tribes to protect the integrity of the area as a sacred place and ensure the peoples' rights to use the site for ceremonial purposes. In 1988, a Forest Service plan to expand tourism to the area was blocked by a coalition of indigenous, environmental, and historical-preservation groups who felt the plan was too exploitative.

That action resulted in a 1996 Historic Preservation Plan which currently mandates unlimited tribal ceremonial use and carefully managed, restricted tourism. Native American interpreters guide visitors when the site is not in use for ceremonies, and there is a 1.5 mile hike to the Medicine Wheel in order to minimize vehicle traffic. Legal action has been taken to prohibit or limit natural resources extraction, such as logging and grazing.

So, should you and I make the hike up Medicine Mountain to visit the Medicine Wheel if we find ourselves in the area? Does it make a difference that I am white? What about a member of another tribe from elsewhere in America who might be on vacation there, such as a Choctaw or a Mohegan citizen? What about a practitioner of some New Age religion who wants to visit the site as a "pilgrim?"

I don't know what the answers are. As my mouse hovered over that original tweet, I questioned whether it was the right thing to do. And I decided not to hit retweet.

Resources:

Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain NHL article on Wikipedia

Sacred Land Film Project Medicine Wheel article
Research Report from the Pluralism Project at Harvard University
Bighorn National Forest page on USDA National Forest Service site

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

photo credit: Ira Block, National Geographic Creative

Name: Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Tribe: Pre-Columbian Mississippian Culture
Location: Collinsville, IL
Type: UNESCO World Heritage Site, National Historic Landmark, Museum
Visiting Info: Open year-round, Grounds: 8am - dusk, Interpretive Center: varies by season, Free admission with suggested donation of $2 - $15.
Contact: Website, telephone 618-257-3441

More than 1,000 years ago, a city of about 15,000 indigenous people rose up above the central plains near the Mississippi River. With over six square miles of mounds and temples, agricultural fields and homes, it was an urban hub of the vast trading network of the Mississippian people that lived on this land before European contact.

Archaeologists and historians call it Cahokia, and it was probably the largest and most influential Mississippian community. Today it is the most complex archaeological site north of the much more famous remains of the pre-Columbian empires of Mexico.

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, located just to the east of St. Louis, contains 80 of the more than 120 original mounds, a central plaza for ceremonies and games, a reconstructed woodhenge, remains of stockades and palisades, and a copper workshop.

Painting by William R. Iseminger, from this Cahokia photo gallery

The Interpretive Center displays artifacts, an introductory video presentation, and a recreation of the original village. Exhibits aim to educate the public about the Mississippian culture and the archaeological work that is going on at the site.

Guided and self-guided tours of the mounds and trails are available.



Resources:
Aerial video of Cahokia from chickasaw.tv
IHPA Introductory Video
Mississippian Culture Wikipedia article
National Geographic web article May 19, 2015, "New Evidence May Solve Mystery of America's Huge Ancient City."

Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

credit: pequotmuseum.org

Name: Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
Tribe: Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
Location: 110 Pequot Trail, Mashantucket, CT, 06338
Type: Museum, Research Library/Archive
Visiting Info: Opening for the season May 15 (through Nov), Wed-Sat 9am-5pm, Admission $12-$20
Contact: Website, telephone (800) 411-9671

After a five-month hiatus for refurbishment under a new director, the Pequot Museum is open again as of May 15, 2015. The museum is hoping to attract greater attention and more visitors with new programs and partnerships with artists.

In the Farmstead area outside, a group of Wampanoag canoe-builders is working on a 36-foot mish8n ("mishoon," the Wampanoag word for canoe), which will be the longest canoe built in New England in the last 200 years when it is completed in June 2015. Visitors can also see a 400-year-old dugout canoe on display inside the museum's exhibits hall.

The Pequot Café is open with a new menu featuring indigenous selections made from local ingredients sourced when possible from Native vendors.

The museum is also offering free work studio space for local Native artists who would like to become Artists in Residence. (For more information contact: bburrell@pequotmsueum.org, 860-396-6960)

And of course, there is still the original 85,000 square feet of permanent, indoor exhibits, including the Pequot Village, a recreation of a 16th Century Pequot settlement before and after contact with Europeans. The movie theater shows The Witness, a 30-minute film about the attack of the Mystic fort by colonists. The "Life on the Reservation," "The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Today," and the "Portrait Gallery" areas discuss life for Pequot citizens in Connecticut today and the state of the Tribe since they secured federal recognition in 1983.

On the museum grounds, a 185-foot glass tower provides a view across the surrounding tribal land. There are walking and hiking trails and a self-guided tour through the 1780's-era Pequot Farmstead that discusses traditional tribal foods and medicines growing in the gardens.

Additionally, the Research Center includes collections, a library, a children's library, archives, and archaeology and conservation laboratories.

Resources:

Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation website
Pequot Museum on Facebook
The Day article from May, 16, 2015, "Pequot Museum Back in Business."
FoxCT article from May 15, 2015, "For the Pequot Museum, doors open again."

Article: "Native America Tribes Embrace Tourism"

A recent Men's Journal article, "Native American Tribes Embrace Tourism," explains how tribes around the country are branching out into the tourism industry to diversify their economies, educate outsiders, and reclaim their public images.

The article specifically mentions two Native-owned tour companies:

Monument Valley Simpson's Trailhandler Tours
Diné (Navajo) tour guides provide a variety of trips (Jeep tours, hiking tours, and photography tours) in the Monument Valley, Utah.

and

NDN2rs
An award-winning ethical travel company offering tours in the Great Plains and the Southwest (South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Arizona, Utah, Alaska) with a vast array of types of tours at various price points.

Aquinnah Cultural Trail and Aquinnah Cultural Center

Name: Aquinnah Cultural Trail, including the Aquinnah Cultural Center
Tribe: Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
Location: Martha's Vineyard (Noepe), Aquinnah Cultural Center: 35 Aquinnah Circle, Aquinnah, Massachusetts, 02535
Visiting Info: Aquinnah Cultural Center is open Wed., Fri., Sat., 11 am - 4 pm, Admission $3-$5.
Contact: Website, telephone 508-645-7900

When most people think of Martha's Vineyard, they imagine rich people in boat shoes and khaki pants embroidered with whales eating lobster dinners by the sea. But the Wampanoag people who live on the island they call Noepe have a different experience to offer visitors. The tribe's website lists special places of interest on a self-guided tour around the island called Wampanoag Way: an Aquinnah Cultural Trail.

The Trail's wide variety of destinations range from the Aquinnah Cliffs, which are the home of Moshup the Giant (from Wampanoag oral history) and a sacred place for the tribe and protected National Historic Landmark, to the Gay Head Community Baptist Church which is on the National Registry of Historic Places, to the shipwreck of "The City of Columbus" at Devil's Bridge, to the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, to the tribally-owned Alley's General Store in West Tisbury.

The points of interest provide a picture of the tribe's history on the island, cultivating cranberries and cattle, fishing for herring and eels, and whaling. The website tells the stories of many of the island's place names, such as Tashmoo the swift runner, namesake of Tashmoo's Overlook and Lake, the love story of Katama and Mattakesset, and the tale of Moshup throwing a crab into the sea to make the island of Noman's Land which became the home of the sachem Tequenoman. The Trail also depicts the tribe's interactions with English and American settlers and missionaries over the past four centuries, including their harboring of escaped slaves and Quakers at Vineyard Haven.

The Wampanoag people of Massachusetts belong to two federally recognized tribes (and several other state-recognized bands and tribes): the Mashpee Wampanoag on the Cape Cod mainland and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on the island.

Gay Head was the name of the town on the southwest end of Martha's Vineyard until 1997 when the community there, which is home to most of the tribe, voted to change it to its traditional name of Aquinnah. The two place names continue to overlap, although it seems like Aquinnah is slowly taking over.

One of the stops on the Trail is the Aquinnah Cultural Center. The Center is located on the Aquinnah Cliffs in the Edwin Vanderhoop homestead, which was built in the 1890's and restored in 2006. The Center offers tours of the home and its collections. They also host cultural events through the summer months (June-August), including the Annual Feast and Fundraiser and a yearly Native American Artisan's Festival. The Aquinnah Lighthouse is nearby, and the Cultural Center offers a combo admission price.

Transportation to the island and around it is a challenge and the accommodations are expensive, especially in the summer. Ferries carry passengers and cars to the island year-round from several ports up the New England coast, but bringing your own car is pricey and there are fewer tickets. The ferries land on the northeast side of the island, away from Aquinnah, but there is a bus service around the island, taxis, and car and bike rentals. If you go in summer, you will need to get a rental reservation early as they book up fast.

Resources:
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah
Aquinnah Cultural Center on Facebook
Gonomad.com article from 2010, "Martha's Vineyard: Homeland of the Wampanoags"
Boston Globe article from June 21, 2014, "The List: Native American-owned businesses on Martha's Vineyard."
Martha's Vineyard Magazine article from July 1, 2013, "Cultural Outpost" (list of native-owned businesses)

Ganondagan, Seneca Art and Culture Center, and the Iroquois White Corn Project

Bark Longhouse

Name: Ganondagan State Historic Site, Seneca Art and Culture Center, and Iroquois White Corn Project
Tribe: Seneca, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy
Location: 1488 State Route 44, Victor, New York, 14564 (near Rochester)
Type: Cultural heritage, art, and event center (SACC), historic site and hiking trails (Ganondagan), food sovereignty project (IWCP)
Visiting Info: Ganondagan - May 1 through October 31 (closed Mondays and some Sundays), trails open year round, admission $2-$3;
The Seneca Art and Culture Center - due to open July 2015;
The Iroquois White Corn Project - retail at various locations and online and volunteer opportunities
Contact: Ganondagan - Website, telephone 585-924-5848; Iroquois White Corn Project - Website, telephone 585-742-1361 or email whitecornproject@gmail.com to volunteer.

Ganondagan is the re-creation of a 300-year-old Seneca town in upstate New York. Admission includes access to the Visitor Center, a replica 17th-century bark longhouse, and three guided hiking trails. Group tours are available for a fee, but self-guided trail hikes are free year-round. The Granary Trail leads up to the Fort Hill mesa where the settlement's protected granary and fort once stood. Illustrated signs along the way tell the story of the day in July 1687 when the French Canadian Governor General Marquis de Denonville's campaign destroyed the original town. An exhibit by Seneca artist Carson Waterman and a video program are located in the Visitor Center. The Friends of Ganondagan also host a summer day camp for high school students focused on conservation issues.

A new 17,300 sq.-ft. Seneca Art and Culture Center is scheduled to open in October of 2015. It will include a gift shop, outdoor exhibit space and gardens, and gallery space offering changing exhibits on Seneca art, history, and culture. There will also be performance and event space, including a catering kitchen, with plans for year-round cultural and community events.

The Iroquois White Corn Project, located nearby on County Road 41 at the Ganondagan State Historic Site Farmhouse, describes itself as a "non-profit, 'agri-cultural' business." The Project grows, processes, and sells the heirloom white corn, as well as creates educational programs to promote its continued production and consumption. They use and teach traditional methods for planting, growing, and processing the corn as a cultural preservation effort, and they accept volunteers at every step of the process from fields to sales.You can buy Iroquois white corn products and merchandise at Ganondagan or online. Their website also lists stores, restaurants, and distributors in New York that sell or use their corn and flour.



Resources:
The Seneca Nation of Indians
Seneca Nation of Indians Tourism
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy
About "Food Sovereignty" at Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance