Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey Tuesday issued an executive order officially recognizing Plymouth’s Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe.
“(S)ince well before the arrival of the Mayflower, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe has continuously inhabited lands within the borders of what is now Massachusetts, with ancestral homelands stretching from the Plymouth area to the upper reaches of Cape Cod,” the order reads.
It makes the Herring Pond Wampanoag the fourth tribe to be recognized by the state, along with the Mashpee Wampanoag, the Wampanoag of Gay Head/Aquinnah, and the Hassanamisco Nipmuc.
“Pretty awesome,” said Melissa Ferretti, chair of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe. “It’s just an amazing historic moment.”
The order, issued during Native American Heritage Month, directs state agencies going forward to deal directly with the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribal Council on all matters affecting the tribe.
“It acknowledges our inherent right to govern ourselves and to manage our own affairs and be free from external interference,” Ferretti said. “It also gives us protections for stewardship of our lands.”
In addition, even though the tribe is not federally recognized, state recognition gives it access to some federal funds from the departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce, Ferretti said. In some cases, it could afford the tribe protection by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior, she said.
“It also gives us pride and unity again,” Ferretti said.
The Mashpee Wampanoag and the Wampanoag of Gay Head/Aquinnah are federally recognized, which grants them additional rights, such as the right to establish casinos.
The Herring Pond Wampanoag tribe has struggled to persuade the Town of Plymouth to recognize that it was here first, though it has received acknowledgment from the School Committee. Ferretti said the Plymouth No Place for Hate Committee and the League of Women Voters of the Plymouth Area are still advocating for such an acknowledgment.
The tribe includes close to 200 members.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.