A ‘momentous’ gathering of town and tribe

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the Aquinnah Select Board met around a table in the main tribal offices on Black Brook Road in what was called a momentous and historic moment by officials. It was the first time that the governing bodies of both the town and the tribe had officially met in decades.

“It’s been a long time,” Kevin Devine, chairman of the Wampanoag tribe, said to The Times.

The session on Saturday between the two governments was largely symbolic, but offered a practical way forward to heal a divide between the town and tribe that’s faintly lingered since the 1970s. There were specific projects touched upon — a long-term solution to sand buildup at the West Basin, new life for properties at Aquinnah Circle North near the Cliffs, and an assessment of current agreements between the town and the tribe — but the general goal was simply to establish next steps for deeper cooperation between the two entities, which have operated in parallel but separately for years.

After a prayer led by tribal members started around noon, Devine said, “This is a momentous moment for us.” Tom Murphy, current chairman of the Aquinnah Select Board, shared the sentiment in a speech: “This gathering, to my knowledge, is the first time the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head has formally invited the Aquinnah Select Board to sit with you in this way, not across the table of dispute, but in the spirit of open dialogue and shared words. That is no small thing. We receive it with gratitude and genuine hope.”

Murphy thanked Devine and the rest of the council for the invitation to meet, and said there are challenges ahead that neither government can meet alone, such as the pressures of development, high cost of living, and threats of climate change. While there’s been coordination between the tribe and town before, Murphy gave credit to Devine, who “opened a door” to have these conversations.

“These are not problems that stop at the boundary between tribal land and town land … We envision an Aquinnah where the town government and the tribal government speak regularly, not only when there is conflict to resolve, but because ongoing communication is simply how neighbors who care for one another conduct themselves,” Murphy said.

Devine told The Times that even in his four years on the tribal council prior to his election in November as chairman, he wanted the town and tribe to share goals and align priorities.

And that view is shared by town officials as well. Juli Vanderhoop, one of two Wampanoag Tribe members on the select board, said that for as long as she’s been on the board, which is more than a decade, they’ve tried to set up a discussion. She said only positive things can come out of this, and rather than struggle separately, she looks forward to what they can do together.

“We all just love this place,” Vanderhoop said. She added that with all the respect each board has for the community, “we can only elevate it to where we want it to be” through cooperation.

It remains unclear the last time that the two governments formally met. Vanderhoop said that she doesn’t think the full board and full council have joined together since the late 1970s, around when the entire select board was made up of members of the tribe; there are now two tribal members on the board, Vanderhoop and Chris Manning. Devine guessed 25 years or more, though said that when Tobias Vanderhoop, now secretary for the tribal council, was chairman in the 2010s, he would communicate with the town, though not to this degree.

Brad Lopes, a member of the tribe, and education and public programs manager for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, said that based on those involved and leadership on both boards, efforts to join the two entities in discussion have stopped and started.

Ancestors of the Wampanoag people have lived in Aquinnah and the rest of the Island, known as Noepe in the Wampanoag language, for at least 10,000 years. The Wampanoag Nation actually existed throughout all of Southeastern Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island, but after European settlements in the 1600s and 1700s brought disease and mass displacement, only Aquinnah, Mashpee, and Herring Pond maintain a significant physical presence today.

For decades, Nashaquitsa Pond (along State Road in Chilmark) to the Cliffs was considered an “Indian District,” the tribe states on the history page of its website, and was governed by three tribal overseers. But in 1870, the town of Gay Head was officially incorporated, which meant “the alienation of Wampanoag Indian District Lands (reservation),” according to the tribal history. In 1972, the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head was formed as a means to achieve federal recognition and return the diminished tribal lands to Wampanoag people. It wasn’t until 1987 that the tribe received federal acknowledgement and some restitution for its land, and the name of the town was changed from Gay Head to Aquinnah the next year.

Still, Lopes said, as more and more non–tribal members came to Aquinnah, there grew an “interesting dynamic” in governance that meant the town no longer governed or was run by only tribal members. Today, he said he’s a “firm believer that we can come together and should come together.” The town and tribe both have access to different revenue streams that could help everyone, he added.

Devine told The Times that there’s a lot of co-founded projects they can collaborate on, and as he’s talked to state officials, he’s learned that towns and tribes that work together can secure grants more successfully. 

After some discussion on Saturday, Tribal Secretary Vanderhoop determined several action items for each board, which included the select board providing information on past short-term repairs to West Basin, putting the council on the select board’s agenda, congruently determining the best day to meet monthly, and creating a shared list of items for future discussions, which include management of town-owned land, repairs to the road near West Basin, and determining what town-tribe agreements are currently enforced.

“That’s something that we’re digging into right now, the actual intergovernmental agreements,” Devine said. “There have been multiple agreements that have been done. We just need to find out again which ones expired, which ones are still in place, and what they say.” He added that there was a recent intergovernmental agreement created last year.

Devine concluded the meeting after about an hour, and said that he really wants to help everyone in the town of Aquinnah, not only the tribal members: “I want to help everyone, and however I can do so, I will bend over backwards to do it.”

Devine and Murphy dismissed residents of Aquinnah, both tribal and nontribal, to enjoy the sun, and people got up to leave as the two chairmen embraced each other in a hug.