Wampanoa

Hobamock's Homesite

Most of Plimouth Towne and Plimouth Plantation are a celebration of the Pilgrims, viewing American history as starting with the Mayflower. That, if course, is not the case. The Wampanoag had flourished from Cape Cod to Goucester for 12,000 years. They farmed, fished, hunted and fought with their rivals. They built summer villages near the shore and winter villages in the mountains. They built dugout canoes and paddled them to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and the smaller islands. They used nets to trap fish in the shallows and spears to kill whales out on Massachusetts Bay. They domesticated the tomato, pumpkin, squash and carrot. By the arrival of the Pilgrims the Wampanoag were using raised gardens and fish for fertilizer, storing seeds, and inventing farm tools. They were a very proud and creative people without whose help the Pilgrims would not have survived.

Today, this history is preserved in Wampanoa, an authentic Wampanoag village adjacent to Plimouth Plantation. The centerpiece of Wampanoa is Hobamok's Homesite, which allows visitors to see history through the eyes of one family. There is also the Wampanoag Educational Center, where families, student groups and other visitors can learn Wampanoag skills and see them practiced. While Wampanoa is considered a living history museum, these are not actors. The tribe is not extinct. Members still live here, and every portrayer in Wampanoa is an authentic full blooded Wampanoag passing down his or her cultural heritage as it has been passed down to them through the generations.

Hollywood has given us the dominant image of Native Amereicans as living in teepees, riding horses across the open plains and hunting buffalo. That was not the Wampanoag lifestyle. They built long houses with interlocking frameworks and bark coverings, hiked through the dense forest, and farmed. Theirs was a woodland coastal culture, and it was complex enough you could spend several days here just studying its various aspects. There are many programs set up to allow you to do just that. This is not the only living history museum portraying the Native Americans, there being others in Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Oklahoma. But this is the best.

Of the workshops, we find the ones in shelter building, gardening, weaving, clothes making, dugout canoe building, cooking and moccasin making the best. We've brought students in for them and taken them ourselves. They are based on meticulous historical research combined with traditional lore handed down by their own people. If, when you are here, any are offered, we urge you to take advantage of the opportunity. We encourage you to contact Wampanoa months in advance, see what might be available, and perhaps adjust your schedule to be here at the right time. There are provisions for teachers or students to receive academic or in service credit, especially with the rising emphasis on cultural diversity. They can send you packets of reading materials so you arrive with background.

To reach Wampanoa, you park at the main lot, come in through the Plimouth Plantation gate and visitor center, then turn right as you start down the trail to the Pilgrim village. The map you receive at the entrance has Wampanoa, Hobamock's Homesite and the Wampanoag Education Center clearly marked.