At Aquinnah Town Meeting, the Emotions Frame Museum Debate
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
The subject was a plan for a cultural museum in a historic homestead
high on a windswept bluff in the town of Aquinnah. But the discussion
that swirled for more than an hour and a half at a special town meeting
Tuesday night was layered with the emotion of a town torn down the
middle.
Underneath it all lay the central topic of the day: the recent court
ruling on sovereign immunity for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah).
The ghosts are quiet these days - if you believe in such things - but at the Vanderhoop homestead the screen door still bangs and the old wood sash windows rattle with the specter of a new future.
Purchased last year by the town of Aquinnah and the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank in a joint acquisition, the historic homestead is now set for its first fund-raising event.
The event will kick off a $300,000 restoration project aimed at converting the homestead to a museum and cultural center.
The Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust on Wednesday celebrated the Aquinnah Cultural Center and its supporters with a prestigious award for their outstanding effort in restoring the Edwin Devries Vanderhoop Homestead, which sits atop the Gay Head Cliffs. It was no easy task, and it involved a partnership between a lot of organizations. The old house is now home to the cultural center.
The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities has awarded matching grants totaling $48,645 in support of eight humanities projects in communities across the state. Five of the grants, totaling $33,645, were made under the theme Liberty and Justice for All for projects that explore these fundamental principles in American political life and their interplay, past and present.
The Aquinnah Cultural Center has opened a new exhibit, celebrating the history of the town through voices.
The center is located on the cliffs, at the homestead of the Vanderhoop family. The beautiful white house which now has a role of preserving the town’s history has stunning views of the shoreline. This is the cultural center’s fourth summer, and the latest exhibit is for all who care about Aquinnah and its rich history.
At an annual Native American speaker series held at Tufts University last winter, Aquinnah Cultural Center program director Linda Coombs saw a performance by a women’s musical group that simply blew her away. Of course, she wasn’t yet the program director at the time, but when she took on the role in May of this year, she knew she wanted the group, Ulali, to be part of the cultural center’s summer season schedule.
On Saturday, Sept. 3, at 6 p.m. the Aquinnah Cultural Center is hosting Kevin Grover, the director of the National Museum of the American Indian located in Washington, D.C.
