Digging Into History

By: Amanda Wastrom, Assistant Curator

While we know quite a bit about the recent past of the land that now makes up Heritage Museums & Gardens (the past 100 years or so), the earlier history of our local area is more of a mystery. With a new accession, donated to the museum’s collection in 2021, we have some fresh insights into that part of the story.

The recent donation included several Wampanoag artifacts that were found by Jack Cowles, one of the Horticulturists who worked here in the 1950s and 60s. Cowles sometimes came across these kind of objects as he was working in the gardens. Some of these items will be on display this season in the Heritage Highlights exhibition in the American Art & Carousel building. Examples on exhibit include an adze (similar to an axe), fishing line weights, and fishing net weights.

To better illustrate what these items were used for, we asked Darius Coombs, Mashpee Wampanoag, and Eastern Woodlands Historian, to create and add the missing components (handles, fishing line, etc.) and rebuild these historical artifacts. As Cultural Outreach Coordinator for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Coombs is actively working to revive the traditions and culture of his people—and to share that knowledge with others.

The idea that these pieces, originally worked by Wampanoag hands from previous centuries or even millennia, are now connected to our time by one of their descendants is exciting! More research is still needed to dig into the details of these objects, but we are thrilled to be able to piece together more of this history and share it with our visitors.