Aquinnah Past To Present

Summary

The nineteenth century history of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah is a snapshot of continuous Native American presence on Martha’s Vineyard over thousands of years. Residents were placed under state guardians in 1781. Between 1863 and 1878, communal lands were subdivided and distributed among tribal families, and a census of tribal members and professional survey of existing homesteads was completed. Aquinnah ceased to be an Indian reservation with town incorporation in 1870, but remained politically, economically, and socially under control of the Wampanoag residents. Non-native landholders did not appear until the 1890s. More than 100 ancient site locations and nineteenth century Native homesteads have been identified across the town including the Tribe’s 500 acres of trust lands. A collaborative GIS project is utilizing oral history, archaeological data, and much of the nineteenth century data to visualize and share this information with archaeologists, tribal members, town planners, and residents.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Reservation Archaeology: Culture Change, Historical Trauma, and Community Resilience in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Native North America

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Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 379