Town Urged To Embrace Heritage, Contributions Of Herring Pond Tribe

By JAMIE PERKINS Oct 17, 2024

Dozens of residents spent the evening of October 4 at the Bourne Historical Society learning about the history of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe.

The talk, presented by chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and Bourne Select Board vice chairwoman Melissa A. Ferretti, aimed to spread awareness of the tribe’s cultural heritage and significance to the region. The presentation spurred conversation among attendees, including what the Town of Bourne’s role can be in the tribe’s ongoing work.

Acknowledging Tribal History

Long before European colonization began with the Pilgrims’ arrival in 1620, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe lived on the lands now known as Plymouth and Bourne.

Ms. Ferretti’s slideshow stated, “The settlers had an immediate impact on the area.”

In the late 1600s (the exact year varies across documents), Plymouth Colony officials agreed to set aside three parcels of land for the tribe’s “sole use.” In 1674 the reservation was described as “a tract of land preserved for them and theirs forever.” The three pieces of land totaled more than 3,000 acres. It consisted of the Great Lot, approximately 2,600 acres; the Meetinghouse Lot, approximately 200 acres; and the Herring River Lot, approximately 400 acres.

In the following years, the allotted land was divided into smaller parcels. In 1850 the Massachusetts Legislature passed The Act Concerning the Plantation at Herring Pond, which divided the three previously allotted parcels into 111. According to Ms. Ferretti’s slideshow, the act “was intended to divide the lands of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, in order to impose individual ownership of small parcels of the reservation.”

Thirty-seven years later, the US Congress passed the General Allotment Act, also known as the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act was intended to assimilate Indigenous people by allotting land to individual households of Tribal members, taking control from Tribal governments and making Indigenous people US citizens who were subject to state and federal taxes.

The Indian Land Tenure Foundation’s website says the Dawes Act was “perhaps the single most devastating federal policy” to be imposed on tribal nations in the United States. Additionally, “during the allotment of many reservations, the most productive land was identified as ‘surplus to Indian needs’ and sold off to white settlers or business interests.”

The tribe now owns a mere 0.43 acres of the once 200-acre Meetinghouse Lot.

“Our meeting house sits on that lot today with six feet on one side of the building, and everything around it was taken or gone or sold off,” Ms. Ferretti said.

Forging The Path Ahead

After generations of watching their land be taken, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe is determined to reclaim what was lost. In many ways, Tribal members still consider the land theirs, no matter who “owns” it.

“A lot of people, when I go to meetings in Plymouth, they say, ‘Well, you live in Bourne.’ And I say, ‘Oh well, I live in Bourne, but I live in Plymouth,’” Ms. Ferretti said. “My homelands are in both Bourne and Plymouth.”

According to Ms. Ferretti’s slideshow, in 1982 the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a “Resolution Recognizing and Protecting the Ancient and Aboriginal Claim of the Indians of the Commonwealth.” The resolution was “in response to concerns that a 1941 revision of the laws governing municipal regulation of shellfishing had mistakenly omitted acknowledgment of the aboriginal and treaty rights of Native Americans.”

“The Native people have an ancient right of easement. We can walk and cut through somebody’s yard if we choose. We generally don’t if we don’t have to, because we don’t want any problems,” Ms. Ferretti said, adding that a Mashpee elder told her of an old tale that they should never use the same path twice so as not to leave a beaten path on anybody’s lawn.

The resolution does not apply only to tribes that are federally recognized, though—which the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe is not, although its sister Wampanoag Tribes are.

“There’s this notion that you’re not a tribe unless you have federal recognition. The federal government does not determine our ancestral sovereignty…nor do they have that authority,” Ms. Ferretti said. “What the federal government can do is give you political status. That gives you access to federal benefits—lots and lots of money and really awesome programs—but it does not give you sovereignty. You don’t need federal recognition for that.”

Gaining federal recognition is one of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe’s primary goals, but it is a lengthy and costly process, usually costing well over $1 million.

In the meantime, the Tribe is working on reclaiming their stolen land and imparting traditional knowledge and customs to their youth. In 2019, the tribe petitioned the Town of Plymouth for the return of ownership of six acres of land that were once part of the Great Lot. The parcel includes a Tribal burial ground, known as the Herring Pond Indian Cemetery, Dinah Field or Lakewood Cemetery.

On October 10, 2019, the Plymouth town government voted unanimously in favor of the petition, giving the Tribe full ownership of the land.

Ms. Ferretti’s slideshow states that the burial ground “is one of [the tribe’s] sacred places and is essential to maintaining the ceremonial bond between our Tribal ancestors, our youth and ourselves.”

In a gesture strikingly different from the actions of white settlers, the Tribe decided to leave Dinah Path open to the public.

“We encourage people to walk out there if they choose. We could’ve closed it, but we thought people walk out there, and it’s a beautiful place, so why do that?” Ms. Ferretti said. “We might as well share it.”

The Tribe’s efforts do not stop at Dinah Path. According to Ms. Ferretti, the Tribe is “very diligently working to secure new land,” which includes establishing a conservation land trust.

“We have a couple of opportunities in front of us that we really can’t talk about yet, but when we can, we’re going to be very excited,” Ms. Ferretti told the group. “We want to preserve, conserve and steward the land.”

In addition to continuing their land-back movement, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe plans to use a recently awarded $1 million state grant from the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds to “bolster their efforts in promoting food sovereignty, health and wellness” within their community.

According to a news release, the Tribe is among 26 awardees from across the state “that have committed to leading efforts to address the root causes of health inequities.”

Next Steps For The Town of Bourne

At the end of Ms. Ferretti’s presentation, Phillip Goddard, a Monument Beach resident, emphasized the need for the town to acknowledge the heritage and contributions of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe.

“You look at the Bourne website, and it has pictures of Bourne, but there’s really no information about what you described,” he said. “I would offer a suggestion that the town put some of that on the town website as part of the history of Bourne. It’s time to do it.”

In addition, Mr. Goddard suggested that the town integrate the information from Ms. Ferretti’s presentation at a display in town hall or at the site of the new bridges, even offering to bring the proposal to the Bourne Select Board himself.

At its October 8 meeting, the Bourne Historical Commission briefly discussed redesigning the town seal to represent the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe more appropriately. The current town seal, created in 1894-1895, has been debated because it includes a historically inaccurate and offensive depiction of the Tribe.

Historical commissioners Steven C. Philbrick and Blanche E. Cody plan to collaborate with Ms. Ferretti to redesign the seal. However, they have decided to wait until after the Special Town Meeting on October 21.