Orleans Ceremony Will Honor Town’s Indigenous History

ORLEANS – Long before the Pilgrims settled in Orleans in 1693, the land was home to the Nauset Tribe of the Wampanoag nation. Now, a new marker in Veterans Memorial Park reminds residents and visitors of the town’s indigenous history.

On Saturday, June 20 a ceremony will be held in the park to dedicate the marker, which was born out of an effort to educate people about the town’s Wampanoag origins. The ceremony will begin at 12:30 p.m.

“Honestly, there’s a lot of things in the last five years I’ve done on the select board,” said select board member Michael Herman, who helped coordinate plans for the creation and placement of the marker. “This is just something I’m really proud of.”

Prior to the marker ceremony, the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers will perform at the Orleans Farmers Market, located behind the Artist Cottages on Old Colony Way, at 11 a.m.

Planning for the marker grew out of a discussion about funding for the now-complete renovation of Veterans Memorial Park at the October 2023 special town meeting. Voters initially denied a request for a $110,000 debt exclusion for the renovation after Orleans resident Bruce Taub noted there was no recognition in the park of the Wampanoag people and their local history.

But a motion was made and accepted to amend the funding article seeking to include a plaque to recognize the town’s indigenous history in the park. The article was reconsidered and passed. 

Since then, Herman said that volunteers worked with members of the town’s veterans committee to create a stone marker honoring the history of the Nauset Tribe and the Wampanoag nation. They worked with Robert Peters, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, who designed the circular marker, which is engraved with the same land acknowledgement that is written in the town charter. 

“We acknowledge with respect that we are inhabiting the traditional lands of the Nauset and Wampanoag Peoples who have always existed here. We value their roles as past, present and future guardians of this land,” the marker reads.

“We said, ‘OK, the town has already voted for this wording. Let's use it so everything becomes cohesive,’” Herman said. “We followed through with what the town wanted, both in the wording and in the marker for the park.”

In the center of the marker is an emblem of a turtle, an animal that the Wampanoag people hold up as a symbol of interconnectedness, creation and longevity. 

The marker, which was funded through $15,000 previously approved through town meeting for education initiatives around the town’s indigenous history, was set in the park in May by Henry T. Crosby and Son of Harwich. State Rep. Hadley Luddy, D-Orleans will be on hand to speak at Saturday’s ceremony, Herman said.

“Hopefully it’s a nice, sunny day,” he said. “I know a lot of people want to go to the beach, but I hope a lot of people show up.”