BRISTOL, RI– Coggeshall Farm Museum will hold a Land Acknowledgment ceremony on the property on April 29, 2023, from 10:30 to 12:30. The ceremony will honor the land of the Pokanoket tribe that first inhabited the territory in southeastern RI that the 18th-century working farm museum occupies.
When Massasoit Ousamequin (Yellow Feather) first met the Pilgrims in what is now Plymouth, MA, in 1621, he was living forty miles to the southwest in an area known as Sowams. Since the last glacial retreat approximately 12,000 years ago, these lands and waters have proven to be a bountiful resource for those making this area their home.
In the years that followed, the unsold native land was occupied by colonists, and nearly all of the remaining population was either enslaved or moved onto reservations. Over the next 150 years, towns were laid out in what was once Sowams, and nearly all traces of its original inhabitants were erased. What followed were years of continual development, the growth of towns, and the gradual loss of much of the original natural abundance that the colonists first encountered.
While we cannot undo history, we can continue efforts to identify, preserve, and protect the open spaces and water that still remain, to locate places of importance to the Indigenous people, to identify markers that signal the historical transition, and to reduce the unrelenting pace of development that could devour what is left of this beautiful land.
“Coggeshall Farm Museum is excited to host this event to recognize the vast history of the land the museum is located on and the Pokanoket tribe’s connection to the land. As an organization we are committed to learning more and improving the educational opportunities we offer the community to give the reality of the history of the land as part of the larger interpretive story,” says Shelli Costa, the new Executive Director for Coggeshall Farm Museum.
The Land Acknowledgment ceremony at Coggeshall Farm Museum will include:
· Blessings and a land statement by Sagamore and Sachems of the tribe
· Drumming by the Heartbeat of the Pokanoket
· Dancing
· Storytelling
· A corn husk doll craft
The tribe will have artifacts on display and will be available to answer questions from visitors. A donation to support the tribe is suggested.
Coggeshall Farm Museum is celebrating its 50th year as a living history museum in RI and reopens for the 2023 season on April 22 for Saturday tours and self-guided exploration on Sundays—more details at https://www.coggeshallfarm.org/.
