Bourne Cemetery to be excavated

“I hope this will be the beginning of a long working relationship with the city, and I hope it will confirm what tribal oral history continues to tell, but modern times have now forgotten,” Hoctor said. “It’s a validation, it reaffirms history so that we can preserve what is there and recognize the cultural significance of the place.”

Hoctor and Silva were connected through Ancestry DNA before COVID-19, and when they realized they were both lawyers who cared deeply about their Native American tribal roots, they wanted to help the communities of Plymouth, Bourne and Sandwich explore the ongoing history of the Wampanoag understand tribe. .

Although Burying Hill would once have been the center of life for the Wampanoag people, today it is shrouded in trees and largely forgotten, Hoctor and select board members both said. Legend has it that the spot along the Herring River was where discussions about the first colony in Massachusetts took place Governor William Bradford and asked Native American leaders took place in the Meeting House, founded by Richard Bourne and Thomas Tupper in 1637.

In later centuries, Hoctor said the area functioned on the Fourth of July as the location where clams were fried, where children ran around while their fathers fished, and where the small tribe rejoiced as the elders told the oral history of their people.

But in recent years, tribal citizens have done just that clashed with their communities as attempts to be federal And recognized by the state failed to come to fruition. Hoctor said the the adoption of Article 9 has shown what can come from collaboration between tribal members and their congregations. Hoctor and other tribal members believe unearthing the history at Burying Hill will give the cities of Plymouth and Upper Cape Cod a better understanding of the Native American experience.

“Bourne often takes a backseat to Plymouth when it comes to our Wampanoag history and I think this will really help us move that forward and show that our history is intertwined,” said Kathy Fox Alfano, trustee of the Bourne Historical Society, at the October 2012 meeting. 21 meeting.

Melissa Ferretti, 56, grew up in South Plymouth and remembers how difficult it was to feel her community’s lack of tribal recognition as a child. Today, she serves as chair of the Herring Pond Tribe and vice chair of the Bourne Select Board.

About 200 people today belong to the Herring Pond Tribe, although Ferretti believes there are thousands more spread across the country. She says she struggles most days with the tribe’s lack of federal recognition, but credits Bourne for supporting their local interests.

When the elders led the tribe, Ferretti says they were too proud to ask for the support they needed to survive. The money was collected by passing around a hat and members throwing $20 and $100 bills into it, she said.

“We were proud; too proud in many ways,” she said. “We didn’t ask for the help that we could and we didn’t ask for the funding that maybe we should have done all along.”

Today, Ferretti leads programming around environmental education and climate change. Her sons actively spend time in nature and continue the legacy of hunting, fishing and gathering.

The archaeological investigation is expected to begin in early spring, using ground-penetrating radar and other tools to confirm the extent of the burials.

“Our ancestors and our dead are important in the work we do every day,” Ferretti said. “If we buried ancestors on that mound, it would be so important to honor their lives and their place in the tribe.”

---

Alexa Coultoff can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @alexacoultoff.