Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch.
Thursday, March 25
- Water & Sewer Board, 1 p.m.
- Pier Corp., 2 p.m.
- Select Board, 5 p.m.
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
Friday, March 26
- Cemetery Commission, 1 p.m.
Monday, March 29
- Community Housing Council, 1 p.m.
- Cultural Council, 5 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Wampanoag Tribe Asks to Rename Race Point
The Wampanoag Advisory Committee in Mashpee has asked the select board and the Cape Cod National Seashore to rename Race Point Beach “Meeshaun Point.”
Meeshaun was the name of the original tribal village in the region, wrote Linda Coombs, chair of the Wampanoag Advisory Committee, in a March 15 letter to the select board.
The renaming, Coombs wrote, is the preferred alternative to creating a monument that would “compete” with the Pilgrim Monument and the Bas Relief, which commemorate the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620. Efforts to design and locate such a monument at the Bas Relief Park failed due to disagreements between town officials and tribe members.
“The name Race Point is a reference to the strong currents that challenge mariners to navigate the Cape tip,” wrote Coombs. “Meeshaun is what the Wampanoag who have lived here for more than 12,000 years called it.”
Restoring that name, she continued, “would revive the spirit of the land, honor the sacrifices of the ancestors who lived and died there, and inspire those Wampanoag who still live here to celebrate the place.”
The select board has not yet taken up the request. It was on its March 22 agenda but was postponed. The National Park Service must also agree. The tribe’s letter was also sent to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, state Sen. Julian Cyr, and state Rep. Sarah Peake. —K.C. Myers
