Wampanoag Tribe moves to restore historic Mayhew Chapel

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The Indian burial grounds sit across from Mayhew Chapel, on Christiantown Road in West Tisbury. — Photo by Steve Myrick

The historic Mayhew Chapel on Christiantown Road in West Tisbury, long neglected and in disrepair, is slated to undergo an extensive cleanup, and could once again be open to welcome visitors and host worship services and ceremonies, Bettina Washington, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) historic preservation officer, told The Times.

For the past six months, the tribe’s natural resources department has devoted one to two days per week to clearing brush, cutting trees, and restoring the grounds of the small chapel, as well as the adjacent Indian burial ground where the earliest Wampanoag converts to Christianity are buried. A piece of sheet metal has been used to close a hole in the roof of the small chapel, erected in 1829 to replace a similar one that was burned.

“The plan is to clean all the cemetery area,” Ms. Washington said, “then landscape around the chapel. We’re looking at our options on what we’re going to do with the chapel. We would like to have it open this summer, but I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do that.”

Ms. Washington said the long-term goal is to have the chapel open and staffed by tribal members on weekends.

“Some of those trees needed to come down; they were becoming a little dangerous. It’s quite a job, the overgrowth; we really didn’t realize the number of headstones. Those have to be cleaned out by hand.”

The small headstones, mostly unmarked, are designated by small orange or white flags, in order to help work crews clear brush and overgrowth without damaging the boulders used as grave markers.

For many years, little if any attention was paid to the chapel or the burying grounds. Grave markers were lost in a tangle of brush and poison ivy, the chapel roof was rotted, and the small rows of pews were littered with fallen plaster.

Ms. Washington was asked why the historic property fell into such disrepair.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think the focus was not there. We’ve turned our focus back there, making sure it gets taken care of.”

Sacred place

The Mayhew Chapel dates to 1680. It is named for Thomas Mayhew Jr., the first minister to Christianize any of the indigenous peoples of New England, beginning in 1643 when he was 22. The land was set aside by the Wampanoag Sachem Josias as a place of worship for Indians who converted to Christianity. The praying Indians, as they came to be called, and their descendants constitute the oldest continuously existing community of Christian Native Americans.

At the foot of the path leading to the burying ground across the road sits a large boulder with a bronze tablet affixed. It was erected by the Sea Coast Defence Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Vineyard Haven, to commemorate “the services of Gov. Thomas Mayhew and his descendant missionaries who here labored among the native Indians. The meeting house opposite erected in 1829 replaced their original house of worship and this boulder heads the path to their burying ground.”

In 1986, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank purchased 7.5 acres surrounding the Mayhew Chapel so that the background “would not be spoiled by houses.” In 1988, the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs named the Christiantown Woods, Mayhew Chapel, and Indian burial ground as “significant to the character and natural history of the Commonwealth,” the first such designation for Martha’s Vineyard.

Dukes County owned the chapel until Nov. 15, 1993, when after two years of negotiations, the three county commissioners in office at the time transferred ownership. The tribe paid the county $15,000 for the property.

Part of history

The Wampanoag Tribe wants to add another historic designation to the chapel and burial grounds. Ms. Washington said a tribal committee intends to apply for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that could make the property eligible for federal grants. Ms. Washington said the burial grounds are a very important part of Wampanoag history, and the history of Martha’s Vineyard.

“For us, there’s a lot of family,” Ms. Washington said. “There was intermarriage between Gay Head, Christiantown, and all the other villages. A lot of folks from Mashpee have ancestors there. You take the historic significance of the Sachem setting aside that property for those Indians who chose to become Christians. It’s an important place. However you look at how Christianity affected us, in terms of tribal history and traditional ways, that’s all part of the history.”

In a telephone conversation Wednesday morning, Wampanoag tribal chairman Tobias Vanderhoop, elected to the tribe’s top administrative position in November of 2013, commented on why the area had been allowed to fall into disrepair and the current restoration effort.

“It certainly wasn’t something that happened on purpose,” Mr. Vanderhoop said. “When we realized what was happening there we did our best to give it the care that we need. We have redoubled our efforts.

“The community really does care about the area. The community is really insuring that we do what is our responsibility. We have descendants of the Christiantown people that are members of our tribe, so it’s very important for us to honor and maintain a presence for their family’s history.”