November is Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.

Let us reflect on Winthrop's Native American history. Winthrop was once part of an area known to the native Massachusett people as Winnisimmet. In 1614 there was estimated to be approximately 3,000 Massachusett natives living in 20 villages around Boston Harbor, but by the time the Pilgrims arrived in 1620 there were less than 800. In 1631 the Puritans counted less than 500. No organized groups of the Massachusett are known to have survived after 1800. Nanepashemet (the New Moon) ruled over a federation of tribes known as the Massachusett that lived within the present boundaries of the state. Nanepashemet had three sons, Wonohaquaham (Sagamore John of Winnisimmet); Montowampate (Sagamore James of Lynn); Winnepurkitt (Sagamore George of Salem); and one daughter, Yawata (Abigail).

On Thanksgiving, we can remember Winthrop's earliest residents and keep their memories alive.