We are members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Wampanoag means “People of the First Light.” Aquinnah means “Land under the Hill.” We have survived on Noepe, “land amid the waters,” members of the Algonquin Nation and Eastern Woodland Indians.
As Gay Head entered the 1900s, it was one of the newest towns in the commonwealth. The English settlers at first considered it part of Chilmark, then decreed it an Indian district from 1855 to 1870, and finally granted it legal independence as the town of Gay Head in 1870. In creating the town, the legislature permitted tribal members of the place they called Aquinnah to divide their land severally and establish a town meeting form of government. To start its life as an incorporated town in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, the state gave Gay Head a treasury of $2.68.
A few days of gray overcast skies in Aquinnah over the past week but mostly there were bright sunny days with intense orange-red sunsets to end the day. Temperatures have been in the 20s to 40s and still no snow, although there are predictions for a storm over the weekend. It appears that most of the birds have migrated south as there is a great absence of them this week. The deer and the wild turkeys remain in abundance.
There were chilling temperatures in the 40s all week in Aquinnah and with so much rain that Forrest Alley’s lawn is bright green once more as we head into December.
