The Native Land Conservancy purchased the iconic cliffside restaurant and the surrounding land this week. It will hold the property until the Aquinnah Land Initiative, a new Wampanoag nonprofit, can raise funds to buy the property.
The recent decision to reaffirm some 170 acres of land owned by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe as a federal trust is welcome news to the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head.
More than 100 people signed on for an internet videoconference with the chairman and vice chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, Cedric Cromwell and Jessie Little Doe Baird, Monday afternoon.
A recent decision by the federal government to take some 300 acres of Mashpee Wampanoag land out of federal trust does not affect the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), but it speaks volumes about the political climate currently facing native peoples across the country, tribal chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais said this week
The attorney for the Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee told a federal judge in Boston Monday that the tribe is in active negotiations with Gov. Deval Patrick over a compact that will allow it to open a casino in Taunton by 2014.
Howard M. Cooper said the Mashpee Wampanoags hoped to complete negotiations with state in less than 60 days and submit the proposed agreement to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs for needed ratification.
Gov. Deval Patrick signed a compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe on Monday, cementing a deal to grant the Mashpee tribe an exclusive casino license for southeastern Massachusetts over the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).
When the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe received a telephone call from U.S. Department of Interior last week, formally announcing their federal recognition as a sovereign Indian tribe, members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) looked across to the Cape with a warm heart and a jaded eye.
They had lived through a similar moment almost 20 years ago to the day, when they celebrated their status as the first federally recognized tribe in the commonwealth.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) yesterday announced its intention to file a lawsuit against Gov. Deval Patrick, and possibly also the town of Aquinnah, to protect its right to build a casino in southeastern Massachusetts and on the Vineyard.
Scott Crowell, a Washington state attorney who represents the Vineyard Wampanoags, said yesterday the tribe will file a lawsuit on Sept. 3 in federal district court.
