Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust at Wantastegok

“The Elnu Abenaki Tribe have partnered with Mount Grace since the early planning of the Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Ames Wheelchair Accessible Trail, which now guides visitors through a series of interpretive signs emphasizing the Abenaki’s continued connection to the lands that make up Squakheag/Northfield.

Elnu representatives worked with Mount Grace, and with the Wampanoag Aquinnah and Narragansett Nations, to describe the cultural importance of the Alderbrook Meadows site and helped design the educational signs for the trail.

This August, Mount Grace was invited to Vermont by the Elnu to witness the reclamation of Wantastegok–”at the river where something is lost”–the original name of the confluence of the West River with the Connecticut in Brattleboro.”

Read the full article in the 9/8/20 Mount Grace newsletter.

 

Reclaiming the Abenaki Placename Wantastegok at Retreat Farm

The Brattleboro Words Project commissioned this appealing, succinct video by filmmaker Donna Blackney, as part of its NEH-funded documentation of the intersection of people, places ,and words in this region. The event was well-attended and well-received, and signals the beginning of an inclusive and mindful collaboration between the Elnu Abenaki, other members of the Native community, and Retreat Farm, in Wantastegok/Brattleboro.

This video will be shared several times through programming at Brattleboro Community Television (listing here).

Layers of Land, Layers of Experience

Visitors to the Retreat Meadows on Route 30 across from the Retreat Farm have a new opportunity to experience the confluence of the West and Connecticut rivers from a perspective that celebrates and honors the region as the homeland of the Abenaki people.

After a brief ceremony on Aug. 13, leaders of the Elnu Abenaki and the Retreat Farm joined Native Americans and others in the community in unveiling an interpretive sign for Wantastegok, the original Abenaki word for the area.

“It refers to the confluence of the West and the Connecticut rivers, a place where things come together, a place where things are lost, a place where things are found,” said Rich Holschuh, a spokesperson for the Elnu Abenaki and author of the text on the sign at the edge of the Retreat Meadows.

Read the full report from Olga Peters in The Commons (issue #576, 08.26.20), photography courtesy of Josh Steele.

 

Reclaiming the Wantastegok Name

The entrance at Retreat Meadows on Route 30 now has a sign bearing the original name of the area, Wantastegok, which Sokoki Abenaki called home for 12,000 years.

“That is the original name of this place — it refers to the confluence of the West and the Connecticut rivers, a place where things come together, a place where things are lost, a place where things are found,” said Rich Holschuh of Brattleboro, a proponent of initiatives aimed at recognizing Abenaki history. “This is the occasion of launching a journey.”

The sign will be part of a trail system around the water, Holschuh said. Other markers are anticipated to tell native stories and share local history.

The ceremony began with Chief Roger Longtoe Sheehan of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe singing a traditional Abenaki greeting song. He lives in Jamaica. “Hello and welcome to the land of the Abenaki,” he said.

Read the full story by Chris Mays in the Brattleboro Reformer (08.14.20), with photography by Kristopher Radder.

Elnu Abenaki S8gm8 Roger Longtoe Sheehan on Sacred Sites in Vermont

From the YouTube channel of the “Year of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas” Cultural Initiative, a program of SUNY Empire State College. For this new virtual residency curriculum, a series of videos has been created with indigenous culture keepers sharing various aspects of their people’s understandings.

In this production, S8gm8 Roger Longtoe Sheehan speaks about the Abenaki relationship with the land and rivers of Ndakinna, and how these interactions take place within their worldview. The interview took place in June, 2018 at the Abenaki Heritage Weekend annual event at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. By request of Vera Longtoe Sheehan, a co-producer of the film, I contributed some still photography from Kchi Pontekw/Bellows Falls, VT for the video.

Hydroland: an Interview About the Vernon Dam’s Cultural Impacts

A well-crafted video project put together by two Brattleboro Union High School  (BUHS) students – Forest Zabriskie and Mason Redfield – for a recent class assignment.

To gather varied perspectives on the utilization of the Connecticut River – specifically the circa 1909 Vernon dam at the Great Bend in Sokwakik – they interviewed Matthew Cole, Community Relations for Great River Hydro (dam owner and operator); Kathy Urffer, River Steward for the Connecticut River Conservancy; and yours truly, for an Abenaki cultural viewpoint.

There are many ways to be in the world…

Putney Mountain Association Annual Meeting 01-13-2019

I was asked to speak at this event last Sunday, Feb. 13, 2019, at the Putney Community Center on Christian Square (slight irony) in Putney, VT. Super turnout – maybe 80-100 people? There may be video coverage on BCTV at some point soon; my friend Russ was there filming…

Link to a pdf of the poster here: putney mt association 2019 poster

Here We Are: with Wendy O’Connell on BCTV

“Here We Are” is a weekly half-hour talk show (interview/conversation) on Brattleboro Community Television,  conceived and hosted by Wendy O’Connell. Wendy interviewed me in early December and the show is now post-production and was released for airing and on Youtube on Dec. 31, 2018. Wliwni Wendy!

Askwa nd’aoldibna iodali – we are still here.

BCTV link here.

Youtube link here.

The Commons: The American Myth of Thanksgiving, from Green Mountain Mornings

Brattleboro, VT and Windham County’s independent weekly newspaper “The Commons” (editor Jeff Potter) published a transcript of the previous week’s interview with Olga Peter’s at WKVT’s Green Mountain Mornings show. The interview itself was posted at Sokoki Sojourn here.

Transcript article here.

From the sidebar:
This interview is adapted from the Nov. 15 broadcast of Green Mountain Mornings on WINQ-AM (formerly WKVT) and is published with the station’s permission. Host Olga Peters was for many years the senior reporter at The Commons and now writes for the paper part-time. The show airs daily from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. To hear audio of this show on demand (podcast), visit the show’s Soundcloud page at soundcloud.com/wkvtradio.

Dummerston: Presenting an Archaeological History of Vermont

From the Brattleboro Reformer, posted Friday, October 19, 2018 4:54 pm

DUMMERSTON [VT] — Jess Robinson, PhD, state archaeologist for the Vermont State Division for Historic Preservation, will present a follow-up to his 2017 presentation on Vermont’s pre-contact past. This year he will be focusing on the woodland and early contact periods, ca. 3,000 – 300 years ago. The presentation will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, [2018] at the Dummerston Grange, 1008 East-West Road. Robinson will answer questions following the presentation.

This free event is being sponsored by the Dummerston Conservation Commission and the Dummerston Historical Society. Refreshments will be served. Donations are appreciated. For information and directions contact 802-257-00012, info@dummerstonconservation.com.