Wampanoag Life Ways, Darius Coombs

Symposium: First Contact - Indigenous Peoples and the First English Settlers at the Quaker Meeting House, July 19, 2019. A presentation of the Nantucket Historical Association.

Presented by Darius Coombs, Director of Wampanoag and Eastern Woodlands at Plimoth Plantation

The word Wampanoag means "People of the First Light." This Native nation dates back over 12,000 years and is located in southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands, and eastern Rhode Island. The nation once numbered more than seventy communities and 100,000 people. The daily life of these communities was similar and they shared a common language. Each community governs itself. The Wampanoag are still living throughout their ancestral homeland and keeping numerous ceremonies alive. Darius Coombs is Mashpee Wampanoag and has deep family ties to both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. He will talk about Wampanoag life ways, the maritime skills that connected the islands with the mainland, and historical events throughout the 17th century.