The public last week got its first glimpse of potential plans to revive the former Aquinnah Shop restaurant property as part of a wider movement to return ancestral lands into the hands of Wampanoag people.
The board of the Aquinnah Land Initiative (ALI), an Island-based nonprofit, talked to a standing room only crowd at Stillpoint on Sept. 2, and said they are hoping to raise $8 million to purchase, restore and care for the prominent property along the Gay Head Cliffs.
Members said they are interested in bringing a restaurant back to the building, which is in need of much repair. But that is not the only possibility and the potential best uses would need to be considered after the group buys the property.
“ALI is exploring whether a restaurant can again become a place of food, work and gathering, connected to Wampanoag and local foodways,” said Amira Madison, the clerk of the land initiative board.
Started in 2023, the Aquinnah Land Initiative is an Indigenous women-led conservation group that is aiming to preserve and protect natural, cultural and historical sites in Aquinnah and across the Vineyard.
The group is part of a growing “land back” movement with the goal of restoring the ancestral link between Native people and the land.
“A phrase that’s guided our board is ‘We care for the land, and the land cares for us.’” Ms. Madison said. “We are connected to the land, we grow from the land. We are nurtured by the land and if we nurture the land, it can nurture us.”
The former Aquinnah Shop property at the Aquinnah Circle is the first property that the Aquinnah Land Initiative has set its sights on. The group learned in 2023 that the shop, which was started in the 1940s by Napoleon and Nanette Madison, had gone up for sale.
The owner was selling and getting several offers above the asking price, stoking fears that the 3-acre property could forever leave Native stewardship.
With three grandchildren of Napoleon and Nanette on its board, the Aquinnah Land Initiative then formed to buy the property. The group teamed up with the Native Land Conservancy, a land back group that has been running for more than a decade on Cape Cod.
The owner agreed to sell the property to the Native Land Conservancy for $2 million in 2023, and the conservancy is holding onto the property until the land initiative can raise the money to buy it.
Even if the group had the money to buy the property today, the building needs a lot of work. An engineer is needed to assess the building after the cliffs shifted and resettled. The building would also need to be brought up to code and updated.
“The building and cliffside property will need careful assessment, significant investment and time before the site can fully welcome the community,” said Berta Welch, a shop owner at the cliffs and member of the Aquinnah Land Initiative board.
The board said it is interested in clearing some of the invasive plants along the property, which extends down to the Aquinnah Cultural Center, and creating a walking path and outdoor gathering space.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first public introduction of the group, and more than 100 people attended the talk and asked questions about the former restaurant property and the land back movement.
The land initiative wanted to be clear that it is not a governmental organization, though it is led by members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).
Aside from outright buying land, the land initiative is looking at other ways to return land to Wampanoags, including easements, conservation restrictions and gifts.
Islander Nevin Sayre said there is an anonymous donor who wants to restore their land to Native people by donating the property to the Aquinnah Land Initiative. While the group is still getting its legs under it, the family is planning to have Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, which has more resources at its disposal, hold the conservation restriction.
“I just want people to be aware of this model that other people can do,” he said “To me, in a time with very few win-win situations, this sounds like a win-win.”
The Aquinnah Land Initiative has run into several hurdles in its first few years. Members explored federal and state grant possibilities, but found that the red tape and legal regulations make it difficult to take that sort of funding.
For instance, Wenonah Madison, another board member, said that some of the funding opportunities required having another entity, such as the town of Aquinnah, hold a conservation restriction for a property. But with the goal of keeping the property under Wampanoag stewardship, the Aquinnah Land Initiative had some concerns about allowing a municipality to hold the restriction.
Instead, the group asked about having the tribal government hold the restriction. After weeks of back and forth, the group learned that such an arrangement isn’t legal.
“I think there’s a lot of advocacy that needs to occur,” said Amira Madison. “I think that it’s a shame that a tribal nation can’t hold a conservation restriction when a local municipal government or… a land conservation organization can.”
Members of the group said they are planning to kick off a capital campaign and are open to talk with anyone who wants to get involved.
“We are willing to come to the table to heal and move forward together because we have to,” said Amira Madison. “There is no other option.”
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