Wissatinnewag Indigenous History Walk and Heritage Garden Tour

Welcome to Wissatinnewag, the place of the “shining hill”, a village with a legacy of 12,000 years of continuous habitation. This property is located on the basalt ridgeline overlooking the fishing falls of Peskeompskut and on adjacent sand plains now reverting to meadow and pitch pines.

This forty-acre parcel is stewarded by the Nolumbeka Project, Inc and was an important part of the homelands of the Pocumtuck people who maintained this place as a zone of peace and truce.

The disastrous King Philip’s War of 1675-76 and the massacre of Indigenous refugees at the falls brought the Pocumtuck chapter to a close.

But that was just the beginning of the modern-day story of this unique place.

Wissatinnewag is now private land, protected in perpetuity by a Conservation Restriction.  This is a welcoming place for Native peoples to come to renew spiritual connections with the river and their ancestors who lived here, to conduct cultural teachings, to help heal past trauma.

This visit, under the auspices of Adventure East, is a rare opportunity for the public to access the site.

The visit will include an introductory talk evoking the Indigenous histories at Wissatinnewag, and will explore the many perspectives that interweave and overlap in this place, including insights into historical, archaeological, geological, spiritual perspectives, as well as the dynamic ecological healing taking place.

After a one-hour walk through moderate terrain, we will conclude with a visit to the circle gardens where efforts are being made to cultivate the Three Sisters( corn, beans, squash) and where are grown other native plants (sage, sweetgrass, tobacco) that are associated with Native American heritage.